Imperium of Remnant
by MikeX713
Summary: The Imperium, made up of the Seven Kingdoms of Man. Cadia, Vacuo, Mars, Vale, Atlas, Macragge, Mistral, they have come to together to form the Imperium of Remnant. And many years after the forces of anarchy are plotting for their return. Only the Greatest can hope to face this Evil, but... right now those greatest have tests and classes to worry about. (Young Primarchs)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer, I don't own RWBY or Warhammer 40k but I love both. Miss you Monty. Matt Ward stay away from 40k!**

 **First off… all of my fans (I sorry for assuming I have fans… I suck) I'm sorry that I did this, I have nothing to say in my defense other than… I'm sorry please don't hate me!**

* * *

Legends… stories scattered through time. The people of the world have grown quite fond of heroes and villains. They particularly enjoy the story of the birth of the Imperium.

The world of Remnant, first came the Eldar. Gifted with magic and long lives, they were the first to conquer this world and bend it to their gods. It was their world and they lived in peace with it never needing to understand the ways of violence or anger. Until those very ideals' were personified.

The Orks, hulking beasts that crave nothing but war. They came from nowhere, but they came in numbers. They crashed the great Eldar empire until all that was left were those that escaped onto the seas where they still roam to this day on their great Craftworlds. The Orks descended in anarchy, with their only outlet for their brutish anger gone they quickly turned on themselves, allowing for the rise of a new race of beings.

The Humans, strong and resolute. They came from their small tribes, long ignored by the Eldar as lower beings and the Orks as to weak to fight. The humans quickly took their chance and rapidly grew to dominate the world of Remnant. Twenty-four kingdoms stood tall, Humanity knew war and protected itself from the divided Ork tribes and the Eldar pirates that had grown jealous of the humans' success. To many it appeared that humans were about to reach the greatness that only the Eldar once knew but like the Eldar… Remnant was not easily conquered.

From the chaos and anarchy of the war between the Orks and Eldar something had grown, or festered as many prefer to say. Deep within the core of Remnant it grew, feeding off the misery and sorrow of the Eldar, it thirsted for the rage and hate of the Orks, and when humanity came it grew fat on their greed and arrogance. And then it came itself to cause these feeling it so loved, The Great Grimm God, Malal. In a single night, it destroyed seventeen out of the twenty-four kingdoms of man, feeding on their suffering as it went.

And then… at the ruins of the first human kingdom, Terra. He came. Bathed in golden light a single man slew the Great Grimm God, shattering him into billions of fragments, the creatures now called Grimm. Spectators of the glorious battled could not recount their story to other but for a few words and always with tears of joy in their eyes, _He came… and he saved us all_. The leaders of the remaining Kingdoms, the Farseers of the Eldar, and one Ork Warboss soon came to the ruined city of Terra. Cadia, Vacuo, Mars, Vale, Altus, Macragge, Mistral, the leaders of these remaining kingdoms all swore their loyalty to this man. The Eldar Farseers agreed to forever be allies of humanity for his saving of what they considered their world. And the Ork Warboss… after a rather loud and lengthy brawl pledged his tribe in the service of the man. The Man was crowned the Emperor of Mankind and after he set up what became the Imperium of Man he vanished. Never to be seen again.

* * *

In a small Dust shop in Vale. Sevreal suited men enter led by a whited suited man in a bowler hat. He knocks of a bit of ash from his cigar before speaking.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop this late at night." He saidas one of his goons pulled a pistol out on the shopkeeper.

"Please…just take my Thrones and leave." The old man said rising his hands up in submission.

"Shh, shh, shh… we're not here for your money, Grab the Dust." The man ordered and the men quickly nodded before doing what they were told. "Crystals, all of them and uncut." The man said before holding out a case for the stolen goods to be placed in.

Outside the Dust shop was a young teen, he had watched the group enter but they never noticed him. He long black hair and pearl white skin. He was dressed in a white t-shirt with a flock of Nevermore flying on it, black bomber jacket with a raven logo on its back covered the t-shirt, and black jeans covered his legs while metal grieved boots covered his feet.

"Should I call the cops… pretty sure that they're goin' rob the place." Corvus mused out loud. "Should I try to…" Before he finished speaking something smashed the window just above his head, in the process scaring away his pet Nevermore Deliverance. "Birdy no…" Corvus mumbled as looked up not even phased by the last ten seconds. He then saw a girl standing outside the shop with the largest scythe he had ever seen. "Umm… Cool weapon?" Was all that came out as he stared, mostly out of surprise.

"Oh Really thanks! Made it myself!" The black haired girl responded with a cheery tone at the complement to her pride and joy.

"Where'd that kid come from?" One of the goons said as he pointed to Corvus.

"Who cares where the new one came from just get them both." The lead man said not happy with how things were turning out. Corvus just threw his head back and groaned. He had to do stuff… he hated that. The robbers ran out of the store only to find Corvus had disappeared, even the girl looked confused as to the location of the other teen.

"Stand back hoodie, I got this." Corvus said pulling out two knives from inside his jacket.

"Hey! I can fight, this scythe isn't just for show." Ruby protested before slamming it into the ground and using it to quickly kick out a charging goon. She looked back at the boy with a smug look of I told you so but he just shrugged.

"Okay… I was wrong, tag team it is." That kinda took Ruby by surprise, most boys she knew would never admit they were wrong. Certainly, when it came to admitting she had skill.

"Thanks…" Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of boots walking on glass. She turned around and bursted forward to the next robber that came at them. She used the goon as a quick springboard in to the air and launching herself to the next one's head with the force from the rifle in her scythe. One of the goons tried to fire his weapon on the moving girl but before he pulled the trigger the gun was sliced in half. The goon looked over to the boy and saw him spinning a long whip with several cross blades on the rope ending in a sharpened point. In the boy's other hand was his other knife that folded back into a small pistol. The boy lazily fired repeated shots at the ground three of the goons had been standing on.

Roman just watched, as the girl sped on… knocking out the goons he paid for one by one in various spectacular displays of skill while three others were just tied up by the other's whip and… yup… the whip just sent a river of lightning and knocked them out too.

"I get what I pay for… should have gone with a few Orks… but nope, had to be cheap." Roman grumbled to himself. "Well Red, Gloomy…" Roman started off as he walked forward. "… I think we can all say its been an eventful evening." He said as he stomped out his cigar with his cane. "And as much as I would love to stick around… I afired this is where we part ways." Roman said before firing a flare off at the two teens. Before making a quick escape. The two teens dodged the flare easily, Ruby shot herself up in to the air and Corvus latched onto a lamppost with his whip to pull himself away.

"Well… it wouldn't be right to just let him get away like that…" Corvus said before giving a small wink to Ruby causing her to slight turn a bit red. She turned back to the shopkeeper but was a bit to flustered to say anything really cool like he did.

"Mind if we take him out?" The shopkeeper nodded politely but she knew that he felt the same way. She followed the boy after the criminal up to the rooftops, He had climbed up using his whip to quickly scale the wall by retracing the rope back while she used the force of her gun to launch herself up. "Hey!"

"Persistent little kids…" Roman mumbled as his ride hovered into view. The two teens stared at the hovering Valkyrie gunship as Roman hopped into the back hatch. "End of the line Kids!" Roman yelled as he tossed a Burn Dust crystal in front of them Followed by a shot from his cane. Corvus dove in front of Ruby to try to shield but it was unnecessary, very much appreciated though if Ruby's slight blush said anything. But Corvus didn't notice as turned back to see a huge bald man standing in between them and the blast looking completely unscathed. He had black and red armor and in one and a taloned gauntlet with two gun barrels in it and in the other was a large mace.

"Well what have we here?" The man said, his voice deep and warm. "Roman… haven't seen you for a while, how's the wife and kids?"

"Horus…" Roman teeth grinded out. Before Roman could retort back Horus opened fire on the gunship. The ship swerved and tried to move out of the way of the incoming fire. "We got a Primarch!" Roman yelled as he ran further inside as the hatch closed. Horus continued to fire at the fleeing Valkyrie.

"You're a Primarch…" Ruby said as Horus turned back to the two teens. "…can I have your autograph?" She asked with amazement in her eyes. Horus smiled warmly at the girl as the sound of guns cocking was heard and she and Corvus looked back to see several Guardsmen aiming their guns at their heads.

"Why of course child… would you like me to make it out anyone in particular."

* * *

The next thing Ruby knew was the she and the boy she fought with were taken to the local Arbites Station. The two sat next to each other for some reason, and the room they were in had no windows or door and a servo-skull hovering across from them recording them. Ruby had lived in Vale all her life and so seeing a Servo-Skull for the first time was a little creepy. They came from the kingdom of Mars and were not seen out in the open that much.

It just hovered there, it's cybernetic eye trained on them. She moved her head to the right, it followed, she moved her hand up, it followed, she try to hide under the table it started making a blaring alarm sound causing a Arbiter to come in to see what was happening.

"I'm sorry, they put that thing in here because of me." Corvus said as the Arbiter closed the door behind him. "My Semblance allows me to only be seen by people when I want them to but I can still be recorded by machines." He said as he stared intently at the Servo-Skull. "Do you think they use real skulls or just make plastic ones?" Corvus said his head leaning to side a bit

"I don't know… I hope they don't use real ones." Ruby also leaned her head as she thought about it.

"But isn't that somehow just as creepy… I mean… if they're not real then why make them look that way?"

"I don't know… Martians are creepy like that." Just then the door opened, a blond woman holding a data slate and a riding crop. She also stared at the Servo-Skull, it was a little comical how it appeared to continue to ignore them all even though it wasn't alive.

"As for you two, I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly young lady." The woman said focusing on Ruby. "And for you Mr. Corax, well I'm sure you knew exactly what you were doing." She said with an accusing glare. "If it were up to me, you young lady would be sent home, with a pat on the back…" Ruby shined at this. "And a slap on the wrist." Not so much now. "And you… I'm also sure you know where your heading." Corvus groan.

"Back to juvey." He groaned even louder. "And I was so careful this time… I am not looking forward to the welcome back party Piggy has got planed for me."

"Wait… you're a criminal too?" Ruby said shocked.

"What I am is a political activist, taking the fight to the man." Corvus said in air quotes, although Ruby had bought the lie and was now imaging Corvus as a rough and tough freedom fighter taking on corruption in the Imperium in his own way that might seem extreme to some but that's just what he has to do to make a change in this grim and unforgiving world, the blond woman stand across from them did not. But before she could burst the young girl's bubble a hand put down her data slate. A man with grey hair and a green suit, and small glasses stood next to her with a plate of cookies and a small caged Nevermore.

"Is that so… well good luck to you young man in that most noble of pursuits." The new man said as he placed the cookies in front of Ruby and the Nevermore in front of Corvus.

"Deliverance." Corvus excitedly said as he went to open the cage only to be swatted by the woman's riding crop. "Hey!"

"We are allowing you to have your pet but it is to remain caged." She said with a stern tone. Corvus leaned back, pulling the cage back with him. The grey-haired man sat down and leaned forward.

"Ruby Rose… you have silver eyes…" Ruby didn't really know how to respond to that. "Corvus Corax…" The man didn't even say anything after that. "So, where did the two of you learn to fight like that?" The man nodded over to a projection of the fight coming from the Servo-Skull's eye.

"Signal academy." Ruby answered quietly and unsure.

"That's classified." Corus said in a jokingly Men in Black way but just got back glares. "In juvey." He sighed, you pick on how to fight dirty and quickly when Juvey is filled with preteen Eldar that really want to prove that they are _So_ much better than the Mon-keigh.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" The man asked Ruby.

"The guards just stood by and let you train in combat?" The woman asked Corvus.

"Kinda… more like I used my time productively and learned a thing or two from the prison library and then had many eager test subjects to try it out on, people tend to want a piece of you when you refuse to join any gang, and yard time is always good to buff up."

"Umm…" Ruby bounced back that image. "… I leaned it from one teacher in particular."

"I see…" The man said as he pushed the plate of cookies into Ruby's reach, something that had been irritating the girl since she even smelled them. She quickly began eating through the pace that Corvus had never seen before. "Its just that I've only ever seen a scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty old crow."

"Mmm! Thash muh Unkul!" Ruby said with a mouth full of cookies, she quickly swallowed her mouth full leaving only one cookie left on the plate. "Sorry, that's my uncle Qrow, he's a teacher at Signal." Ruby said as she took the cookie and motioned to give it to Corvus' Nevermore. Its beak snapping at the treat as it slid into the cage. "I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing and now I'm all like Wohooo Cha!" Ruby said making a few chops in the air.

"So I've noticed, and what is a adorable girl doing at a school to train warriors?" The man said fully appearing to ignore Corvus at this point, not that he didn't mind, he was used to people ignoring him… whether he wanted them to or not.

"Well… I want to join the Astartes." Ruby said with complete and utter seriousness and focus. "And one day… become a true Primarch."

"You want to be one of the Emperor's Chosen? To slay the enemies of the Imperium?"

"Yeah… I only have two more years of training left at Signal, and then I'm going to apply to Beacon. See, my sister's starting there this year and she's trying to become an Astartes. And I'm trying to become an Astartes because I want to help people, And my parents always taught us to help others and so I thought might as well make a career out of it. I mean the Guard is alright but Astartes are just much more cooler and awesome and you know?!" They all stared at the excited girl.

"Do you know who I am?" The man asked. Ruby turned to the chair next her wondering if Corvus also knew but saw that it empty. The woman threw a pen at the chair only for it to hit and awake a napping Corvus who appeared in a slight dusting of raven feathers.

"What?! What's going on?" He said startled by his awaking.

"I just asked if you knew who I am?" The man stated before taking a sip from his mug.

"I have no clue… so can I go back to sleep now?"

"Umm… I know… your professor Ozpin, you're the headmaster at Beacon." This made Corvus sit extra straight. He wasn't going to piss off someone that high up in the Administratum with poor manners even though he knew he was already doomed. But all Ozpin did was click his tongue.

"Hello."

"Nice to meet you." Corvus was awe-struck, she just said hello in a calm and casual manner to one of the most powerful men in the kingdom of Vale and by association the Imperium.

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

"Well okay…and what about you Corvus… what do you want?" Corvus was still trying to piece together what had just happened while Ruby was also trying to do the same.

"Umm… I don't want to go back to juvey?"

"Then you can come to my school as well." He said leaning back in his seat feeling the irritation coming off Glynda. But she knew that this was planned out long before now so she didn't say anything.

"Wait… come to the bastion of the Administratum and Astartes in Vale as a student? I have no choice do I?"

"Not really… its either this or Piggy gets to start baking your welcome back cake."

"Fine… you got me in checkmate." Corvus said as he stood up with Deliverance's cage in hand. "If you would be so kind as to give back my stuff so I can go pack…" Corvus started to walk past the two adults but was stopped by Ozpin's cane to his chest.

"Not so fast… we're not going to have you running out on us. So you will be taking this Servo-Skull with you and if you use your power for a second this deal is off and straight to juvey you go." Corvus stared at the hovering Servo-Skull as it stared back, his mind going back to the debate of whether or not it was a real skull. "And if you would be so kind as to escort Miss. Rose back to her home." Corvus glared at Ozpin as Ruby hid under her hood trying to hide her blush.

The two teens left the Arbites Station quickly after that then proceeded to walk the night streets back to Ruby's home. The following Servo-Skull did a good job at keeping any muggers away as no one wanted to get near the thing.

"Soooo… your bird is cute..." Ruby asked trying to say anything to break the awkward silence. "But is it a real Grimm?"

"Oh Deliverance?" Corvus looked at the resting Nevermore on his shoulder. "Yeah he is, but you know how Grimm are attracted to negative feelings, I think he's attracted to my laziness and picked up on it and now he's too lazy to hurt people." Corvus said as he feed Deliverance a bread crumb.

"Well he seems nice… anyone that like cookies can't be bad."

"Everyone likes cookies."

"I know so everyone can't be bad." Ruby joked. But they quickly fell back to awkward silence until they reached Ruby's house and after figuring out that Ruby had forgotten her keys, something that happened often, the two waited for her sister to open the door for her. "So… umm… thanks by the way for umm… walking me home." Ruby said before disappearing under her hood again to once again hide the blush. Before Corvus could respond however the door opened to reveal Ruby's sister Yang.

"Hey Ruby did you forget… your keys… again." Yang looked at the two and it took exactly three point eight seconds before she came to the wrong conclusion about what was happening. "Get away from my sister you creep!" That was all Corvus heard before being knocked out by Yang's punch. Corvus fell to the ground and Deliverance fluttered down on his back. After a few peaks to Corvus' head a small shine of vengeance came its eye. It shot up and began peaking at Yang's head, although it instinctively knew not to actually damage her hair. Yang fumbled as the Nevermore assaulted her and fell back into the house. The bird Grimm flew back to Corvus now that it had settled the score.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Deliverance but my sister is just being overprotective." Ruby said as she crouched down. The Grimm seemed to acknowledge this and hopped over to Ruby's shoulder.

"What the warp just happened?" Yang asked as she pulled herself up.

"You over reacted and were punished." Ruby said as she tried dragging Corvus inside. "Yang a little help, you are the one who knocked him out." Yang still didn't understand what was going on but helped her sister bring in the other teen and helped her place him on the couch. Ruby did her best to explain just who Corvus was and how they met.

"Ohh… okay… that makes sense." Yang said as sarcastically as she could.

* * *

"Look at it brother…" Leman said as he held his brother Fulgrim in a headlock. Leman's dog like teeth bared in excitement. They were going to be attending Beacon, it was the day he had been looking forward to for many years' now. "You can see all of Vale from here." Leman said letting go of his struggling brother to press his face up at the glass of the carrier ship that was taking the prospective Astartes to Beacon. Leman could only smile on this day, and to show for it he had worn his best outfit… that is the same one he always wore just cleaned. Jeans and hiking boots, grey and blue t-shirt and a wolf pelt over that acting as a pseudo jacket.

"Damnation brother, you could have messed up my hair." Fulgrim worried as he checked his flowing silver hair. The teen boy was the model of perfection to the point that many of the girls on the ship were already fighting over who could ask he out first. He was wearing a conservative purple and gold tunic, fashionable and was neatly cut along the joints to allow for mobility. "What do you think sister? Did Leman ruin it?"

"No Fulgrim its fine." The teen's sister said not looking up from her book. Her crimson hair getting slightly in the way of her face but she ignored it as it was on the side that held no real impotence to her. As over her right eye was a gold and ivory inlaid eyepatch, even though she tried her hardest to make it still look good, having it covered by hair still helped.

"Megan dear you haven't even looked up from your book." Fulgrim bluntly asked.

"Of course she didn't… nerds can't look away from books. It might kill them." Leman joked still not looking away from the window.

"Just as it might kill you to try and read one." Megan said as she turned the page.

"Shut up Magnus!"

"I have told you a million times to never call me that you furry idiot." Megan said with the sound of her closing her book in frustration. "I desist that horrid name; it reeks of boy."

"But that's your name Magnus." Leman said as leaned back to his sister. "Magnus." He sung out as before she knocked him on the head with her large book before going back to reading it.

"Much better." She said smiling as she returned to her story.

"That all you got..." Leman mumbled as he tried to got back but stopped when something caught his nose. "I know that smell… oh… things just got a whole lot more fun."

* * *

"Again I'm really sorry." Yang said to Corvus as Ruby gawked over the view. The sound of her pointing out places in Vale in the background.

"I don't know… I mean my face could sacred forever." Corvus milked the moment by rubbing his face. "I should get something in compensation, I mean all I was doing was escorting your sister home, and for thanks I get clocked in the jaw… for shame."

"Enough… you will get one free punch in return. That's it! Nothing more."

"No… I want something else… I will forgive you once you pet Deliverance." Corvus held out his Nevermore on his arm. The bird stared back at the brawler, it had yet to forgive completely and Yang could see the evil look in its eye… well… it always had an evil look but this one was different. She reached out carefully but the Grimm quickly bit her finger.

"Ow!"

"Until you have petted Deliverance… I will continue to hold this over you." Corvus said he himself petted his bird.

"Why you…"

"Hey come on guys." Ruby said trying to get in between the two. "You are supposed to be happy." Ruby pointed to her sister. "And you are supposed to be happy but calmly not showing it." Ruby pointed to Corvus.

"Of course I'm happy Ruby…" Yang said as she started squeezing her sister in a bone crashing hug. "… my baby sister is coming to Beacon with me. this is the best day ever!"

"Please stop." Ruby tried to say in the full effect of Yang's bear hug.

"But I'm so proud of you!" Yang said as hopped back unable to contain her joy for her little sister.

"Really sis it was nothing."

"Um… I was there… it wasn't really nothing." Corvus interjected. "We stopped a robbery, all by ourselves, with no help from the cops. We're pretty awesome."

"But I don't to be awesome… I don't want people to think I'm special just because I got pushed ahead two years." Ruby said staring down at the floor making a few circles with her foot.

"But you are special." Yang said pulling Ruby into a gentler hug from the side. But before Ruby could respond a falsh of grey and blue tackled Yang, leaving a musty odor behind in her place. Ruby looked back to see a small dust cloud with sevreal arms and feet kicking out from it. It might have been funny if she knew what was going on. "Say it! Say it!" Ruby could hear her sister yell as the dust began to settle. Her sister was currently holding a boy Ruby had never seen before in a choke hold with her legs while holding back his right leg.

"Never!" The boy growled out before somehow flipping the situation into him holding Yang in an equally troublesome position. "Ah ha lass! Now who's _top dog_?" Ruby heard a groan from behind her and Corvus.

"Does he have to make such awful puns?" Ruby turned around to see who was speaking and was honestly surprised at how was it. He was certainly the… prettiest boy, she had ever seen. Flowing silver hair, deep golden eyes, flawless pale skin, he was like a prince out of a fairy tale… if you like that sort of thing.

"You know he does… it's how he remembers what funny is… by not being it." A girl Yang's age said as she walked behind the pretty boy. Her long red hair was tied back in to a pony tail but a bit was loose to cover her right eye, she was wearing Baggy black jeans that seemed to cover her feet so Ruby couldn't even see if she was wearing shoes, her top was a simple red shirt with a yellow vest zipped up but her arms and hands were wrapped in bandages. She was also not looking where she was going as her eyes were focused on reading.

"Umm… what's going on… who's that and why are you handing me a rose?" Ruby asked as the pretty boy did in fact hand her a rose.

"Because my dear you deserve nothing less, oh how we shall remember this day fondly as we grow old and… ohpf!" Ruby watched as the girl hit him with her book.

"Now you're getting on my nerves too." She said before pulling back her book letting the boy fall to the ground. "I'm sorry for my brother, he means well but he simply can't stop himself." The girl said with a smile trying to mend any problems that may have been caused. "I'm Megan Prospero, this is Fulgrim Rasputin and over there is my other brother Leman Russ." She said pointing to the still ongoing fight between Leman and Yang. "As for why this is happening, I have no idea."

"Yang! What's going on?" Ruby yelled to her sister cause the brawl to momentarily stop as the two combatants looked up the girl.

"Oh Ruby, sorry I forgot." Yang said as she pushed Leman off her with her boot. "That's just Leman, he's an old friend from the neighborhood."

"I've never seen him before."

"Not that neighborhood lass." Leman grumbled as he dusted himself off. "She means from the…" Leman stopped when he saw Megan's trained eye on him. "… um… just from around… we know each other from just running into each other a lot."

"Uh huh." Both Ruby and Megan said not buying that at all.

"Yeah… so you must be Ruby." Leman said trying shift the focus of conversion away from him and Yang. "I've heard a lot about you, but you're still a short little thing, what'ch doin' on this ship to Beacon." Yang quickly pulled her sister close in pride of her sister before speaking on her behalf.

"She's skipping two whole years because she's that awesome. She stopped a Dust store robbery and helped catch a criminal."

"Um, Yang… Roman got away."

"That's not the one I was talking about." Yang half joked while Corvus just glared.

"Well I wasn't the only one who stopped the robbery…" Ruby sped over to Corvus' side. "…Corvus helped too." The three newcomers looked over Corvus, Leman wondering how good he might be in a fight or in a party, Fulgrim did a quick look over but began ignoring him once it was clear that the two had very different ideas on aesthetics, while Megan simply focused on the Grimm on his shoulder.

"You all see the Nevermore on his shoulder, right?" She asked bluntly.

"This is Deliverance…" Corvus said letting said bird hop onto his hand. "He's perfectly friendly… to people who don't punch other people unwarranted." He continued to glare at Yang.

"Grimm aren't toys or pets… they are children of anarchy and seek nothing more than the suffering of intelligent life." Megan countered.

"Well… he's never hurt anyone that didn't deserve it… maybe he's different somehow?" Corvus said letting the Nevermore rest back on his shoulder.

"Beowolfs never attack me when I'm out huntin'." Leman said standing next to Corvus.

"Well I think the thing is pure evil." Yang said standing next to Megan.

"Well I think he's cute." Ruby said standing next to Leman. They all looked at Fulgrim, Corvus' team already won but Fulgrim could tie everything up. The silver haired boy sighed.

"Grimm do get smarter as they age, maybe this one has lived long enough to know its place." He said as he reluctantly stood with the Pro side.

"Traitor… whatever…" Megan said as she turned back to the window, ignoring the group while they felt her anger wave off her.

"So… um… you three are siblings? You don't like each other." Ruby asked trying to move on from the Nevermore.

"We're all from the Gold family." Megan shrugged. "I'd kill myself if I was related to the furry idiot."

"The Gold family?" Ruby thought she had heard of it before but couldn't place it.

"The Primarch boot camp." Corvus answered. "There's a old rich guy, that's Mr. Gold, and he adopts young kids… and they all become Astartes. And they all become Primarchs." Ruby noticed that Corvus seemed a little uneased by the mention of the topic.

"Its not like we all are promised to become Primarchs, our brother Angron refused the War Hounds position." Fulgrim said trying to defend their father as being some creep that takes young children to turn them into killing machines.

"Oh yeah! Why would he ever do that, the War Hounds re the coolest. I'm going to apply to that legion after Beacon." Yang said excitedly. "They always get into the best fights." The War Hounds, the fighters and brawlers that lived to fight and fight again, always in constant war with the Orks, Eldar pirates, Grimm, White Fang, and the World Eaters.

"I myself I'm going to join the Emperor's Children Legion; they are the true bastions of culture and nobility." Fulgrim said with an air of pride and confidence. The Emperor's Children were in fact a gathering of the more artistic Astartes that wished to create and protect the various works of art and the overall culture of the Imperium, to say they were popular would be a massive understatement and to join you had to be a prodigy in artistic talents in some way or form and even better in combat. To join your fighting style must be a work of art in of itself.

"The Tundra Wolves, nothing less would be for me." Leman growled out happily. The Hunters of the Emperor, the undisputed kings and queens of tracking and killing all the stand in the way of the Emperor's justice.

"Thousand Sons." Megan said still not looking back at the group. The masters of the arcane, the Thousand Sons are the scientists of the soul. Constantly researching things like Aura and Dust, as well as Grimm.

"Well of course the nerd wants to join the nerd Legion." Leman prodded.

"What about you Ruby? Which Legion do you want to join/" Yang asked her sister.

"I don't know… that's something you decide at your last year at Signal… maybe the Salamanders."

"You a pyrophilic?" Leman asked bluntly before being hit again by Megan.

"What's that?" Ruby asked innocently.

"It means you _really_ like fire." Corvus said flatly not wanting to ruin Ruby's innocent ideals.

"Oh… well I don't _really_ like fire but they help a lot of people and that's why I want to be a Astartes. They also keep good care of their weapons and teach you a lot about weapons and I've always really liked…" Megan stared down Leman before he could make a comment on her choice of words. "… weapons so… yeah… Salamanders… what about you Corvus?" Ruby said trying to shift the focus over to someone else.

"Me… hadn't thought about since I never wanted to be an Astartes before…" Corvus thought about the various legions that the Imperium had for the Astartes. "Maybe the Night Lords… or the Alpha Legion."

"You want to be a spook?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow. The Night Lords were the boggy men of the Imperium, working as the interrogators and hunters of criminals. While the Alpha Legion… no one really knew what they did but was very classified.

"What about the Raven Guard?" Ruby suggested.

"Raven Guard… aren't they jailers and wardens. Why the warp would I join them?" Corvus scoffed. The idea was silly, him… a Warden of the worst the Imperium had to offer.

"Maybe because you have so much experience on the inside you might be able to help people instead of just locking them up." Ruby responded, her believing eyes made Corvus unable to make a snide remark dismissing such a thing.

"Um… sure… that sounds… okay. I'll have to think about it." Corvus said trying not to look as embarrassed as he felt but there was no hiding it from Yang or Leman who began making faces at him behind Ruby's back. They all stopped when the announcement for the new students.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon Academy, I am Glenda Goodwitch. These next few years will spent learning and becoming the Emperor's Champions, members of the Adeptus Astartes. All of you have shown the many qualities that are looked for in Astartes and your time in Beacon will hone these very qualities as well as sharpen those that you might need help with. You will learn everything a Astarte will need to serve the Imperium, Combat, Statesmanship, an Will of Stell, and a passion to advance the Imperium forward. There are many dangers facing the Imperium and it will be up to you to stand tall, this is only the first step." The image said before closing out allowing for the future students a look out to see Beacon.

"Wow… its so huge." Ruby said with awe. The rest of the group moved up to window.

"Well… it certainly make a large impression." Megan said before they all turned to the sound of a blond boy starting to throw up. "It would seem we aren't all as ready as we thought." Megan said with a slight smile as the boy ran past them to a trash can.

"Ew! Yang some it got on your shoe!"

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes_ _For the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based on the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter One, Astartes_

They are called many names, Hunters of Grimm, Cleansers of the Greenskins, The Knife to the Traitor's throat, but most common of all... the Emperor's Angels of Death. The Adeptus Astartes was started by the Emperor himself, the technology to create these super soldiers came from him and the training program set by him. Where the Guard fails the Astartes will succeed, where common men fail the Astartes will never. They take many roles within the Imperium and all of the, they perform in excellence.

To become one of the Emperor's Chosen one must be accepted in to one of the four Astartes schools located in Atlas, Mistral, Vale, and Vacuo. During their time in these schools they will learn everything they need to become Astartes, primarily Combat and Statesmanship. As Astartes must not only be the best warriors mankind has to offer but also their brightest minds and rulers. Also during their period of schooling they are implanted with the enhancements that makes them superhuman, the Gene-Seed. (See Gene-Seed Codex page 456 for more details on subject)

While the High Lords of Remnant are politically in charge of the Imperium, it is unlikely that they would deny a request from the leaders of the Astartes Legions, unless two or more disagrees. As the Astartes are see by the common people as celebrities and role models it would be very difficult to remain in office if you openly oppose the Astartes. (For more information on the inner workings of Imperial Politics turn to page 134)

The Astartes are organized into Twenty Legions, each with their own individual role in the Imperium. The number of Astartes in each Legion is fluid, Aspirants are assigned to the Legion that best suits their talents and so the number of Astartes within a Legion is always in flux. The average number of Astartes in the Legions tends to hold around five hundred. (For the complete history and organization of each Legion turn to chapter 3 Legions.)

Each Legion is led by a single Astartes, their Primarch. How one becomes a Legion's Primarch differs between Legions. The Tundra Wolves have a yearly festival that is centered around a series of contests to see who is worthy of leading them. While the Imperial Fists have a vote every ten years. And some have less... certain ways. The Thousands Sons decide through group conscience on who in the Legion is the most intelligent. But in any Legion, the Primarch is the one who leads them and Legions thrive or suffer on their Primarch. (For more Information on Primarchs turn to the next chapter)

* * *

Author's Notes

First… I made Magnus a girl because there needed to be one, I'm not going to have all the Primarchs be dudes. And I didn't make Fulgrim a girl because that's too easy.

Second, no Bugs, Maybe undead robots, Yes blueberries.

Third, the Yang punching Corus joke is based off of one by Ashbel Longhart

I hope you all will like this blending of worlds as I figure out this story.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes

Oaky, now I want to say that the normal updates are going to be monthly, or whenever the hell I feel like it but at the minimum it will be once a month.

Oh… and I have reworked a few things on Cinder sooooo… she's not the bad guy anymore. That's not a spoiler because…

* * *

Cinder watched as the next round of students for the first year arrived at Beacon. Sitting on the branch of one of few trees on Beacon's grounds see watched as her fellow first years arrived. Some more than others were ready for the next few year if the vomiting boy was anything to go by.

"Look at them all, I really hope I can get a few of them to like me." She nervously said as she dropped from the branch to the ground. The girl from Macragge nervously twisted her fingers as she paced around the tree. "All I have to do is make one friend, then I'll be fine. Oh I miss home, everything was so much simpler there." Cinder said as she sat at the base of the tree. "But no… I had to follow in the family foot steps to become great and powerful." She started again with the twisting of her fingers until her Semblance started making sparks again. "Oh darn it…" She quickly tried to smoother the flying sparks before they might have caused another accidental fire.

"Hey that was pretty cool." Cinder looked up to see another girl with green hair lazily siting on the branch she had just been on.

"Oh! Umm… no its nothing… just my Semblance and I don't even have much control over it." Cinder said as a few pops of fire came from her hands and then she quickly scrambled to put them out. She sighed out of her embarrassment and looked back up when she heard the other girl laughing.

"You're such a klutz…" The girl haired girl said before dropping down next to Cinder. "I'm Emerald by the way."

"Cinder… and you're still talking to me?"

"Of course, when you find yourself in a new place the best thing to do is find a friend. That's what my mom told me when I left to come here."

"Heh… my father told me something similar."

"Well Cinder, why don't we be friends."

* * *

Ruby and Yang were both greatly impressed by the massive castle that was Beacon.

"Wow! It's amazing what do you think Corvus… Corvus?" Ruby looked around for the boy but saw that he had disappeared. She then looked down at a note with her name on it.

 _Dear Ruby, I will meet you at orientation. I have gone to look for the biggest guy on the yard to punch him in the gut. As the institutionalized school system is nothing more than a prison for children I must follow the rules that govern prison, 1. Punch the big in the yard in the gut or jaw, 2. Don't piss off the Warden (Ozpin) 3. Never drop the soap. Corvus Corax_

"Hey Yang, what does Corvus mean by never drop the soap?" Ruby asked innocently but still causing Yang a bit of discomfort.

"I would answer that Ruby but I got to meet up with my friends gotta go bye." Yang said as she disappeared with some people Ruby didn't recognize.

"Wait Yang! Where are we supposed to go? Are supposed to go to our dorms, do we have dorms, I don't know what I'm doing." Ruby said as she fell back into some luggage.

* * *

Corvus watched from a bit away as the rich Atlas girl yelled at Ruby for crashing into her stuff. And then watched as Ruby sneezed burn Dust on to the girl.

"Heh… got to try that some time." Corvus said as he turned back to find his prey. He was out on the look out for the biggest, meanest, and possibility the best that his year had to offer and then he was going to make sure not to mess with him. He would have done that to the Primarch babies but they seemed like nice people and not people that needed this kind of tactic.

So Corvus scouted out his fellow first years. And what he saw changed his mind quite a bit, most of them were decent human beings and not at all the kind of people that he needed to worry about. And then he saw them… the class bullies. Four guys were picking on some Abhuman Faunus.

"Hey look at the mutant!" The lead bully said pointing at the bat eared boy. "Can you hear me or do I need to say it louder." The bully was wear what looked to be newly made armor and had cropped back orange hair. Just as Corvus was about to teach this guy a few manners he stopped, it seemed someone was about to beat him to it. He was wearing opened half robe of the Mechanicus, and everything under his red robe was black and grey that matched his hair. His legs proudly displayed as cybernetic augments.

"Hey dipshit…" The guy said as he tapped on the bully's shoulder. "Didn't your parents ever tell you do on to other what you want them to do on to you, it's one of the few moral codes that is both stated by the Creed and Cult." He said smiling knowing full well just how the bullies would react. And they did react the way both the guy and Corvus knew they would, with violence. Corvus watched as the kid from Mars kicked the bullies down and went over to the Faunus boy to try and console him.

"Other than those morons I don't think there's anyone that really fits the bill. Emperor's rotten balls, I ditched Ruby for no reason. Now don't I feel like the jerk." Corvus said before quickly running off to find Ruby to apologize for leaving her all alone.

* * *

"We're here!" Leman shouted as he and his siblings walked along the courtyard path. "This is so wolfen good! I mean come on! This is our first step to become Primarchs." Leman continued to yell out his excitement.

"Yes yes, I do hope that our years here will be filled with learning and found memories for years to come, ah… friendships forged in comradery and maybe a school romance here and there." Fulgrim said imagining what his years at Beacon he would like them to be.

"Yeah! And after Beacon… the Legions… and after that… hunts all I want, beer all I want, and whole roasted boars all I want!" Leman said as he and Fulgrim dreamed of their lives as Primarchs together.

"You two are morons, this is supposed to be serious, you know… like school." Megan said fully irritated with her brothers' antics.

"Well I see you three haven't changed." The three teens turned to the familiar voice and saw their brothers, Lion El' Jonson, Mortarion Barbarus, and Ferrus Manus standing behind them.

"Ferrus! How goes your studies brother." Fulgrim said as he came into hug his favorite brother.

"Just fine younger brother." Ferrus said warmly as he returned his brother's embrace. His black and silver armor not even stopping the two.

"So Lion!" Leman said as he and said brother began their customary wrestling match that just ended up being teach other trying to push the other down to the ground first. "How's feel to know that soon enough you're going to be under my shadow."

"Funny I was going to say the same to you." Lion said with the same look of pained determination Leman had.

"Megan." Mortarion said plainly to his sister, his voice muffled by his rebreather that was part of his airtight suit he had to wear always due to his toxic Semblance.

"Mortarion." Megan replied as the two of them watched the gauge match and were soon joined by the other two Gold family members. "Is father going to be at the opening ceremony?"

"Along with the rest of our brothers and sister." Ferrus answered. "It is a shame that she could not join you three." The four grew sullen and even the fighting brothers stopped at the mention of their recently departed sibling. It had been a tradition that four members of the Gold family attended Beacon so they may be on the same team, but this year the fourth member had been stricken with illness and had recently passed away. It was a tragedy for the tight family. No member could come to speak of her again after the funeral.

* * *

Corvus ducked through the crowd after he spotted Ruby walk in the building with that guy who vomited on the way here. Odd. Used to weaving through large crowds and going unnoticed as he did so it wasn't to much trouble to catch up with Ruby and her sister but Deliverance had decided to return a bit to its Grimm roots for shits and giggles and with a few pecks here and there caused him to trip and slide face to floor in front of the two girls.

"How you doing down there." Yang said smugly.

"Duin' jest fiun." Corvus mumbled, his words muffled by the floor before standing back up.

"So did you find the biggest guy yet." Yang said jokingly.

"Shut up, I'm sorry for ditching you Ruby, it was rude on my part and I should have stayed with you." Corvus apologized giving a slight bow to Ruby who just once again hid under her hood.

"Oh it's fine, I mean its not like you didn't ditch me to be alone let someone." Ruby glared at Yang who just whistled innocently. "Besides you said you would meet up with us at opening ceremony so I knew you weren't abandoning me with no notice." Ruby glared even harder at Yang who just looked away trying really hard to ignore her sister. "Besides I can't stay mad at you, we're friends after all."

"I don't have friends… I have contacts… but… if I had to have a friend, I guess I would want it to be someone like you." Corvus admitted.

"Aww… your so damaged, it just makes me want to buy you the whole world." The teens turned around to see a tall man with long black hair. He had a very well made gold and black suit that had to be a custom job for his size. "Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long, why I haven't seen you since you were but little things."

"Father, must you be so embarrassing." Megan said as she walked in to view from behind the man. "Ruby, Yang, Corvus, this is my father Mr. Gold." Ruby looked on with awe at the fabled Primarch Maker while Yang help back due to what he had just said.

"What do you mean that you knew us, are you saying that you know are parents?"

"Why of course, your parents were some of the greatest Astartes ever to come out of this fine school. I heard that they even offered both of your mothers' positions as the Primarchs, but they turned it down, likely because they knew the life of a Primarch is not the life of a mother." The way the man spoke was nothing any of the three teens had ever heard and both Yang and Corvus had heard Eldar speak in their native tongue. "I expect nothing less from the two of you, I can see it in your eyes. And you…" Mr. Gold turned to Corvus. "You have a bright future…" He came down to put a hand on Corvus' shoulder. "… never doubt that." He said before making his way up to the stage.

"Wow, strong praise indeed." Fulgrim said as he joined the group followed by Leman. "I've never heard father speak about anyone quite like that."

"Yeah, normally he just makes back handed insults that take weeks to even figure out that they were insults." Leman chuckled before leaning in to Ruby. "Why do you smell like… boom?"

"Oh yeah!" Ruby exclaimed as she remembered her anger toward Yang. "Because of you I exploded."

"Yikes… meltdown already?"

"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire and I think some ice…"

"Are you being sarcastic?"

"No she's not." Leman said pinching his hyper sensitive nose.

"Yeah! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage and then she yelled at me." Corvus only then noticed that the same girl from the said incident was standing behind Ruby. Megan was about to point this out as she had witnessed the same event but Leman stopped her having figured everything out by the fact that the same smell hung around the new girl. "And then she yelled at me. And then I sneezed, and then I exploded! And then she yelled again. And if felt really, bad. And I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"

"You!" The new girl yelled causing Ruby to jump into Corvus' arms.

"Oh Emperor, it's happening again!" Ruby whined as she held on to Corvus and then quickly switched herself over to Yang when she realized what happened. "Save me Yang!"

"Your lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!"

"Emperor's throne you really exploded."

"It was an accident! It was an accident!" Ruby said as Yang let her down. "What's this." Ruby said as the other girl pushed a pamphlet with a carton Emperor giving a thumbs up with one hand and holding a Dust crystal in the other. The words _Dust, the Emperor's blood on Remnant and how to handle it_ on the top.

"The Schnee Dust Company is not responsible for any injures or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee family highly encourages our customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow to Dust application and practices in the field."

"Ummm…." Was the collective response from the everyone present expect for Megan who could follow along to every highly practiced word.

"You really want to start to making things up to me?"

"Absolutely."

"Read this and don't ever speak to me again."

"Well if the adorable Miss. Rose can not speak to you then at the very least I hope I could. We would need to speak about our future together…" Fulgrim could not continue his speech of seduction as Megan quickly smacked him down to the floor with her book again.

"I swear I'm going to get a shock collar for you one of these days." Megan said before glaring at the girl with clear hostility. "Weiss Schnee. You're a long way home from Atlas and its many comforts."

"And just who are you?" Weiss retorted not liking what the red headed girl was implying.

"I'm Magnus Prospero." Both Leman and Fulgrim hid behind Yang and Corvus respectively, the **Only** time she used her real legal name was when she was that kind of pissed that even the Grimm God Khorne could not hold a candle to. Yang, Corvus and Ruby all watched the color drain from Weiss's face at Megan's full name.

"Oh… I'm so sorry…"

"Save it." Megan said before walking into the crowd. The other teens were unable to do anything as the watched Weiss storm off in the other direction.

"Umm… what was that all about?" Yang asked as she turned back to still frightened Leman.

"We in the Gold family may not be related by blood… but there is somethin' that binds us all together… our father always found us at our worst moments and none of them are the kinds of things to be spoken about in public." That was all Leman would say before the microphone up on the stage got taped on catching everyone's attention.

"Umm… this fing on?" The Ork on the stage said as he fiddled with the mic. "Its on… goods… All right you'z Lot! Quiet down! The boss has gots some fings to say to youz." The Ork hopped off the stage with a thud making way for Ozpin. Behind him setting in Twenty chairs that had been set up were the current standing Primarchs of the Astartes. The way that the four schools had been set up by the Emperor at the beginning of the Imperium made it so the Primarchs could be present for the start of each school's year. Vale's classes started in the fall, Atlas in the winter, Mistral in the spring, and Vacuo in the summer. Why the Emperor did this no one knows but no one was going to change something the Emperor set up.

Sitting on the far left was the Primarch of the Dark Angles legion. Sar Luther, a brilliant tactician he had lead the Dark Angles to many successful operations under his leadership.

Kaldor Draigo, sat next. The Gray Knights were the greatest among the Legions in fighting the Grimm of the Gods but they were also the most exclusive, one could only be chosen by the Primarch himself to join the Legion.

Up next was Solomon Demeter, a great man loved by all in the Imperium. He was the first Primarch of the Emperor's Children or the Keepers of the Culture as they also go by to recognize modern outlets like TV, Movies, and more current Music as worthy works of art. This has gained him a large following among the younger crowds of the Imperium, evident by the fact he had been voted most eligible bachelor in the Imperium for five years running.

To Solomon's right was Perturabo Olympia. While Solomon is loved, and adored throughout the Imperium Perturabo is… tolerated. His constant cries for more funding to the Cadians has made him unpopular among the more peaceful cities but very well received in the City that never Blinks.

And next was… well he's missing… or drunk… drunk and missing. Let's just say that the Primarch of the White Scars is not loved by his legion and they most often ignore him and lets him live out his pseudo retirement.

And next to the empty chair of the White Scars is someone probably equally drunk but can still function as a Primarch is Logan Grimnar. Often referred to as Grandpa Grimnar by his legion and the children of the Imperium, he is also a favorite among the people for his many showings of loyalty and care of the common man.

To the right of Grimnar was Rogal Dorn, he is Dorn and he will forever be Dorn. The bluntly spoken and humor lacking Primarch of the Imperial Fists. Known throughout the lands a a master of fortification and equally for his absolute honesty and complete lack on a funny bone in his body.

Up next was another empty chair as the Night Lords were currently in between Primarchs.

And sitting next to the empty chair for the lacking Night Lord's Primarch was the Primarch of the Blood Angels. While Solomon would be the number one bachelor in the Imperium, Sanguinius Baal would be counted as the number one bachelorette. A feat even more impressive due to the fact she was a mutant, her angelic wings captivating any who see them. A symbol for Abhumans, mutants, and women everywhere, Sanguinius proved to the world that nothing is impossible so long as you had the drive to do it.

To the right of the actual angel was Gabriel Santor, Primarch of the Iron Hands legion. His faith and loyalty to the will and vision of the Emperor was nothing less than zealous only tempered by the long years he has lived.

The Primarch of the Dust Riders has been missing for many years after venturing into the Eye of Terror, the birth place of the Great Grimm God. But the Legion still holds out that she still lives and is doing the Emperor's work in the Eye.

After the next empty seat is Khârn, not so much Primarch but leader of the War Hounds. The legion knows who their Primarch is, and Khârn is not him. But he will stand in until the true Primarch comes home.

And next to the leader of the War Hounds sits the Primarch of the Ultramarines. Roboute Guilliman (Also called by many as Papa Smurf, yes that show is in this world.). The golden boy of Macragge sat there with his statesmen smile waiting for his turn to speak.

Calas Typhon, the next man in the line of Primarchs. The Primarch of the Death Guard, protectors against viral attack and contamination, this has become a war against the Grimm God Nurgle.

Next to Typhon was Ahzek Ahriman, looking irritated and bored. He was not the most liked of men but he did his job well and was no slouch when it came to combat. His Dust Golems had won him praise from even the more combat oriented Primarchs.

Then there was Horus. The Warmaster of the Legions, second only to the High Lords of Remnant. He was by far the most famous of the Primarchs and for good reason. He had crushed Ork warbosses, killed many greater Grimm daemons, and had even killed a Grimm Prince that had come calling on Mistral. He was loved by the people and the soldiers.

Leaning back in his chair his head resting on his fist, the sight of him effectively making everyone in the room completely terrified was Primarch Sebastian Yarrick. The Primarch of the Armageddon Steel Legion, the only Legion to be wholly remade by one man. The former Word Bearers legion having turned traitor, the captain of the third company stood alone and saved the legion from eternal shame, reforging it in the bastion of loyalty and discipline it is today.

Next to the most terrifying man in the Imperium was perhaps the friendliest one, Vulkan Nocturne. The man's warm smile completely offset his coal like pitch black skin and almost burning red eyes. He was well loved throughout the Imperium as a great making of weapons and friend of the people.

Next to him was the Primarch of the Raven Guard, Alicia Dominica. The Warden without Fail, never under her watch has a single inmate escaped. Her watch is absolute, as such her… devotion to the Emperor is overlooked.

And next to her is the last empty chair, as the Primarch of the Alpha Legion is never publicly stated. (But I'll give you a hint, he's the one speaking.)

"I'll keep this brief so that the other speakers may go on with their speeches." Ozpin spoke into the mic. "You have traveled hre for today in search of knowledge and power… to hone your craft and ascend to greater things. And when you are finished you plan to dedicate your life to the service of the Emperor, the Imperium and the people within it. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose… direction. Those feelings are a cancer to Astartes, and hopefully by the end of your journey here, you will have found a direction that will be a cure and not catalyst. But always remember, it is you that takes that first step… no matter what direction that may be in." Ozpin said before leaving the stage and allowing Mr. Gold to speak.

"Um… Thank you Headmaster for that… powerful speech." Mr. Gold said clearly uncomfortable with the tone Ozpin left behind. "Now, My family has supported this school since its inception. I trust each and every one of you to it proud, especially a certain three of you…"

"Urg… why does he have to be so lame." Megan said as her father waved down her and her brothers. Before continuing his speech.

"Is it too much to ask the Emperor to come down from Holy Terra and bitch slap him." Leman grumbled while Fulgrim tried to shake off the eyes staring at them with a warm fake smile.

"…you all a productive first year and I'm sure that we will be seeing great things from all of you." Mr. Gold said with a slight bow before starting to walk off the stage. Everyone with Guard parents freeze at the sight of the next speaker. He's wearing a black great coat with red trim and gold epaulets, a peaked officer's cap, and the classic bolt pistol on his side. His face is weathered and sullen though his expression shows that he has yet to truly feel his age.

"All right now…" His tone is deep and there's a slight ascent that no one can quite place. "… my name is Flint, I'm the school's stationed Commissar. That means its my job to watch you all and make sure you do your best. In other words… I'm your fucking nanny and I'll be the best damn one you'll ever have. Today you will be sleeping in the great hall, If I hear of **any** disreputable behavior, this includes drugs, fucking, fighting, and any combination of the three… this thing on my hip won't just be for show." To emphases his point he quickly shot his bolt pistol into the ceiling. "Got it!" The silence was all the answer Flint needed. "Good, after tonight we will be taking you out to assign your teams, before you all leave…" Flint scowled before continuing. "Primarch Guilliman wishes to speak a few words." The moment he said that Primarchs Khârn, Ahriman, ad Yarrick got up and walked off stage while most of the others slouched back in frustration.

"Oh no…" Leman grunted causing Yang and Ruby to look back at him.

"What? We get to hear a Primarch speak, that's pretty cool." Yang said not understanding Leman and Fulgrim's turned moods.

"You've got no idea just how boring my brother Rob can be. There's reason why we in the Gold family call him Captain Guidebook."

* * *

Four hours later the Aspirants were herded into the great hall. None of them able to gaze at stunning murals and tapestries due the sheer exhaustion they felt after listening to Primarch Guilliman. An hour later people begun recovering from the what was referred to form then on as the most boring speech in history. Leman, Fulgrim, Corvus and a few other guy sat around a makeshift table playing cards.

"Fuck it! I fold." Corvus said as he threw his cards down on the table and Fulgrim pulled in the pot.

"Theirs is no shame in admitting defeat… but there is certainly a little shame at losing to a hand like this." Fulgrim revealed his hand to show that he indeed had one of the worst hands any of the boys had seen all game. Sevreal of the other boys left in frustration leaving a small group.

"Now that the sore losers have left…" Fulgrim nodded to Leman and he nodded back with a mischievous smile. "… You guys want to know what the girls are talking about over there." Fulgrim pointed back to the girl's side of the hall. A few of the guys eagerly leaned in hoping to get some early intel on their soon to be class mates.

"How are you going to find out?" One of the boys asked.

"I'm a Wulfen, these ears and nose know all boys." Leman's ears flicked back a bit at this as he listened in to a nearby group of girls before nodding discreetly to them. "The lass in the blue just broke up with her boyfriend back in Macragge… oh… she sounds desperate to get a little revenge." The boys leaned even closer after that, very excited to hear what the Wulfen had to say. Leman then noticed a familiar sent hanging in the air. " _Ah… it seems she finally wised up and quit that feral bunch of bastards. But to come here… risky._ " Leman's eyes scanned the hall looking for his fellow Abhuman. He then saw her, but she was talking to Yang and Ruby… so it wouldn't be tonight that he would see what the former White Fang operative was up to.

* * *

Yang stared at the small tent Ruby had made out of her blanket and pillows, it wasn't half bad and in fact Yang was sure that three people could probably fit in there. Ruby was nothing else but a wiz at engineering.

"Hey blondie." Yang looked up at the red robed guy who called her not the most creative nickname she heard. He had a confident smile, but what drew her eyes where the cybernetic legs he had. "Name's Mercury Black but you can call me babe." He just laughed at the cheesy pick up line. "Not doing so good I'm I?"

"Not really… but I'm sorry about what's about to happen." Mercury's smile dropped in confusion before Leman came flying in kicking him in the face.

"I had dibs on her first jackass!" Leman yelled pointing at the ragdolled Mercury. "She might have turned me down but I still have dibs!" Yang quietly chuckled to herself as the two boys began fighting, not over her but over the idea of dibs.

"Go fish." Yang turned back to the blanket fort and saw two extra shadows coming from inside.

"Do you have any nines?"

"Nope…" Yang was surprised to see Corvus, Jaune, and Ruby playing Go Fish in the tent. "Hey this is a private party." Ruby said as she pushed her sister's face out of the fort.

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes for the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter Thirty-Six, Abhumans and Mutants_

Humanity is not one species, but made up of one baseline one and sevreal branches. The Ogryns, the Ratlings, the Faunus, the Beastmen, they are all human to a degree. While on the other hand there is the Mutant, these are the humans born as either the baseline or branch species and have been fouled by the power of Grimm or some disastrous event.

The Faunus are the most common of the Abhumans, they share the commonality of having one trait of a wild beast. Any more and the being would be classified as a Mutant. However there are some exceptions to this rule. The Wulfen being an example. (See Wulfen on Page nine hundred and ninety-three) Faunus in the Imperium are often treated with both pity and distain. Though relations have been having a upturn despite groups like the White Fang enforcing negative stereotypes.

The Ogryn are the next most populous of all the Abhumans. Body shape comparable to baseline humans but for one detail. Size. And the mind of the Ogryn has suffered for it. They have been compared to children when discussing intelligence, they are productive members of society so long as they are given enough oversight.

Ratlings are smaller and fuzzier humans. They are considered by the common Imperial citizen as lecherous thieves who will steal anything not nailed down to the floor. And while it is true that many Ratlings do take to the life of crime too well many are in fact productive citizens, most often serving as cooks, most famously is are the singing Ratling chefs of the Vacuo Astartes school.

The Beastmen, they are race of Abhumans that are split down the middle. Half serve the Imperium faithfully while the rest live out in the wild. How they do so no one really knows, while the Orks have the numbers and grow their own food with their own biology and the Grimm simply exist. The wild Beastmen are a mystery to the Imperium, even their civilized cosines don't know how they do it.

* * *

Author's Notes.

First off, some of you are going, what? Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury aren't bad anymore? The what's the plot gonna be? Don't worry, up until volume three I'm going to be keeping close to the plot of RWBY, and then change the plot towards the end of the Vital festival. Lorgar will be taking the place as the big bad of this story and I'm telling you that because I fucking hate that altar boy, if it wasn't for him then the Great Crusade would have been a win and Emps woudn't be all spooky.

Second, if you can guess who the White Scars Primarch is then you get some tasty Member Berries. Member Squats oh I Member… ah south park how I love you.

Third, who recognized Commissar Flint?

Reviews

Oniele- Thank you for being the first Review, and your welcome

Darkerpaths- oh fucking shit! You read my story! That is awesome! Many love to Kad and I hope you're doing good.

Red Server- He's here, and he's one of my favorites so… he may smell bad but he's awesome.

Kamzil- thank you for sticking out and thank you for Reviewing, its reviews like yours that keep me writing, seriously I was planning on waiting a few weeks before picking back this story… I have a lot of stories.

BluePanedGasMask- Thank you and they will be a little mellowed out but not much. Like with AI… Pennybot J

Nemris- Yeah, the War Hounds and World Eaters are two different thigns in this world, War Hounds are the Legion and are about honor in battle, lots of violence but still honor like no attacks to a enemy's back… stuff like that. The Would Eaters are MURDER MURDER MURDER MURDER MURDER MURDER! So yeah… and I fixed the grammar of Astartes, and Primarchs are the leaders of each Legion, I put a codex on Astartes in the last chapter so check that out as it explained it. Sanguinius, Magnus, and Jaghatai and one of the unknown Primarchs are the only ones I gender swapped. Thank you.


	3. Chapter 3

**(Play Chi Mai by Escala about half way through)**

The Ballroom was filled with the sounds of classic music, while there may be no band playing to the tune needed it was there. A beautiful song played for the two in the room. One clad in gold and black, the other in black and white. The two followed the song, dancing as they went.

"How long have we played this game?" She asked, her voice calm, refined but free. She went by many names, for this era she called herself Salem. Long ago she had been called Malal or simply just Malice but that was when she had power… power she no longer had in this world of peace and order. Oh the world still felt suffering, wars, and hate… but in all the feelings of the world hope had won out.

"Too long to remember." He was also known by many names, most notably the Emperor of Mankind. But he had done his work, order ruled the world today. And so, he stood in the shadows. Finding those that needed to be found.

"The children stir… they seek to bring me back."

"And mine grow to fight them."

"I just hope that they succeed…" She said as she laid her head on his chest as they continued their dance. "… I've grown accustomed to this life."

"You say that now." He chuckled. "Just as you said that during the time of the Eldar."

"Hey now, who was it that was first the evil of the world. Your first children betrayed you and turned you into a shell of yourself. And then they had the gull to think themselves the masters of Order."

"Yes… and the Silent King still sleeps. Though I dare not say forever." The two of them had continued this dance for as long as any could remember. Order and Chaos. In this new age they had finally found the balance they had longed for. But now the balance was being threatened by their children. The forces of total Chaos plotted to bring back their mother and the avatars of complete Order slumbered, waiting to return.

* * *

Leman unpacked his weapon from his assigned locker. Two short swords named Freki and Gerl that when brought together shifted into a large great sword. As for their range capability the two swords could spilt their blades down the middle to expose a high powered shotgun.

"This is going to be so fun!" Leman growled out as he checked the blade to make sure it was still as sharp as he liked. "We get our teams today and we get to cut some Grimm to pieces."

"So who would be your first pick for team mates?" Fulgrim asked already knowing Leman's answer and also knowing full well that every generation of the Gold family somehow ended up on the same team. It was uncanny, first was Horus, Lorgar, Sanguinius, and Vulcan. Then it was Dorn, Perturabo, Guilliman, and Angron. After that is was Lion, Ferrus, Mortarion, and Jaghatai. Now it was them and while their sister had unfortunately passed away and could not fill the forth place, everyone knew that the Gold family always ended up together. But Leman seemed determined to go against the grain.

"Anyone but you and the nerd. I don't know how father does it but I will not be part of his weird tradition."

"That's what Angron said and look how he ended up." Fulgrim smiled as he took out his sword Symphony, He had created it himself and tuned it to his own Semblance. It was a long thin blade but not a rapier as it still held a blade that was meant for cutting rather than piercing. It was truly a work of fine craftsmanship, gold inlay in the blade itself, the guard a streaming band of silver and gold, tight purple leather wrapped around the hilt ending in another band that looped around and formed back into the blade.

"Yeah well I'm going to be different. My nose and hearing will keep me from you lot and land me a partner that isn't you or the nerd."

"But again, if you had to chose?"

"Well… I guess my first choice would be Yang." They looked over to the blond brawler who was talking with her sister. "would be fun fighting with her instead of against her. But again, anyone would do better than…"

"Me or the nerd I got it."

"What about you?"

"Me… I'm under no illusions that I can have anyone other than you or Megan. But then again we are missing our forth so there's the possibility. If I had to choose it would be who ever would be my future love, oh the story that would make."

"Yeah, two squad mates falling in love. That's not over done at all." Leman snickered as he shut his locker close.

"You just don't understand love you brute."

"I know you're still a virgin." Leman chuckled causing Fulgrim to go red with both anger and embarrassment.

* * *

Megan watched as her brother's talked about who they would like to be on their team. Like Fulgrim she knew that it was inevitable that she would get put on the same team as them but that still left the fourth member to be an outsider.

" _As long as it isn't the Schnee bitch then I have no problems with anyone taking her place_." Megan had been close to their deceased sister and the thought of someone like the Schnee Heiress taking her place was unacceptable.

Megan then noticed two girls standing back from her. One with green hair pushed the other forward and said something.

"Umm… hello." The girl said timidly. "My name's Cinder and would you like to be my friend?" The asked before bowing a little too low. She looked up at the sound of Megan's laughter.

"You don't talk to people that much, do you?" Megan said as she finished laughing.

"Well I do… just not to people my own age."

"Well you're doing fine Cinder… my name's Megan."

"Oh hello Megan… so um… who's woud you like to be on your team. That's what everyone seems to be talking about."

"I don't care… anyone would be fine."

"So you would be fine if… you had me as a partner?"

"Yeah… you count as anyone."

"Oh thank you. I hope that we could be on the same team then." Cinder said before returning to her other friend leaving Megan a little confused about the whole thing.

* * *

All of the Aspirants stood one the side of a cliff over looking a huge forest and at the base of the cliff was a few ruins of some long lost city. They all watched as both Leman and Mercury got punched in the face by Commissar Flint.

"You two are lucky that the Head Master isn't letting me use my Bolt Pistol." Flint said as he cracked his knuckles. "As for the rest of you lot! Below us is your first mission." Flint said as he walked back to stand beside Primarch Sanguinius.

"We will be assigning your teams today. You will live, train, and fight with your team. So make sure you get someone that you can work with." The Primarch said, her voice joyful and warm. Ruby looked around nervously, she wasn't prepared yet and was worried about who she might end up with. Yang was pumped, it really didn't matter to her who she ended up with so long as they could hold their own in a fight. Corvus was quietly sizing up the competition, his goal was to either get Ruby or that guy Mercury as a partner. All of the Gold family Members knew what was coming but one was determined to not following in their siblings footsteps.

"Now as to how you get your partners…" Flint smiled, he really liked the way Ozpin set it up this year. "… the first person you have eye contact with will be your partner." The sound of glass shattering went off in the heads of Ruby, Leman and Cinder.

"What?!" They all said with differing emotions behind the word before returning to being quiet at the sound of the Commissar's bolt pistol going off in the air.

"Quiet! Now… the forest below is filled with Grimm, mind you we have purged it of any Grimm Daemons and we have Primarch Sanguinius here in case one pops up or if a band of Orks gets attracted by the sounds of fighting. Now, the goal is a small temple at the other end of the forest, Headmaster Ozpin has placed some kind of prize there for each pair to collect. Do that and get your asses back here and you will be graded on how well you do, what you pick up, and who you chose."

"Do you have any questions?" Sanguinius asked before Flint started to begin the test.

"All of you get ready!" He yelled and everyone got into their positions while Jaune raised his hand.

"Um… sir, I have a question. How are we getting down from here to the forest?" Jaune said as a few of the students started getting shot into the sky.

"We're shooting you up in the air and you will fall to the ground.' Flint growled out as he went over a last few things on his data slate.

"Oh… umm and did you forget to give out the parachutes or something."

"No sweetie you need to use your own landing strategy." Sanguinius said with a smile that was a bit detached from the dangerous information she just said. Ruby gave a quick smile before she too was lunched from the cliff.

"So, um… what exactly is a landing strategy?" He asked before being shot into the air screaming as he flew.

"Bet you five Thrones that dumbass is bloody pulp by the end of this." Flint said as he and the Primarch watched the kids fly through the air.

* * *

"Yeah WHOOOOO!" Leman yelled as he flew through the air. "Better catch up blondie!" He yelled as he passed Yang. Yang just responded by passing him, laughing as she did so. Leman grumbled before he started losing his momentum. Soon crashing into the solid ground. "I'm alright!" He said as he held up a thumbs up for no one to see.

Megan on the other hand was trying to focus on the right spot to land. After her eye fund the perfect clearing she unwrapped her right hand revealing it infused with Dust enhanced tattoos. A small column of blue and red Dust burst from the ground forming a small slide that she used to gently cost down to the ground. After dusting herself off while the Dust slide retuned to the ground she pulled out a book she had been saving and started walking toward the temple.

Cinder flew through the air and was increasingly worried about her chances at landing safely when all of a sudden a tower of Dust formed and helped her slide down to the ground. Cinder looked around to try and find the person who helped her but couldn't find anyone.

Corvus jumped from tree to trying to slow down his speeds. He had been able to use his whip to get down to the branches and slow down to nonlethal speeds but he was still moving a bit to fast for his tastes.

"Well that was fun… and pointless." Mercury said as checked his legs for any damage from his landing. With no apparent damage, he started off for the temple. Slightly hoping that he could find that blond chick before that wolf kid did.

Fulgrim walked through the dense forest whistling along to a song he had forgotten. The idea of flying through air again irked him to no end. He continued to walk and whistle as he continued to fix his messed-up hair.

* * *

Leman moved through the forest, sweat running down his forehead.

"Damn that nerd… she did something I know it." Leman took another sniff but once again was confused by what came back. The whole damn place smelled the same, he couldn't tell where anyone else was.

Then his ears picked something up. Someone was nearby, whistling. Leman began running at the source, anyone to break that stupid tradition would do. He needed to find someone before he met up with Fulgrim or Megan. He was so worried and confused that he didn't notice just who was it that was standing across from him until they met in eye contact.

"No!" Leman yelled out as he fell to the ground on his knees.

"Sorry brother… the tradition lives on." Fulgrim chuckled as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"No! we can still do it." Leman said as he stood up. "As long as we don't end up with the Nerd! We can break the circle. Let us go brother and charge!" Leman yelled as he ran off in to the forest once again.

* * *

"Got to find Yang. Got to find Yang." Ruby mumbled as she ran through the trees. "Yang!" Ruby yelled getting increasingly worried. " _Oh what if I can't find her… there's always Jaune. He's nice… he's funny… I don't think he's very good in a fight through. Leman or Fulgrim… yeah… no… I don't think I like the idea of living with either them. Oh what about Blake, so mysterious so calm… plus she likes books… then again I don't I could hold a conversation with her. Megan? Maybe… I don't know how good she might be in a fight but she's from the Gold family so… maybe… and then there's… Corvus. I mean… I know he's awesome in a fight. He likes birds. He doesn't like the system. I'm his first real friend. And he's kinda lazy… um… I'm I forgetting anyone else…_ " Ruby thought as she slowed down to the sight of someone standing in front of her path.

* * *

Cinder threw a sparking fireball at the approaching Beowolf.

"Go away!" She yelled as she lunched another. The Grimm shrugged off the weak attacks and slowly creeped forward. "Oh… this is not good." Cinder whimpered as she readied her swords.

The wolf like Grimm lunged at the panicked girl but was stopped by a metal foot crashing its head. Cinder looked up at her red robed savior. His hands in his pants pockets, bunching up his robe he kept a calm and cool demeanor as he smiled at the other Grimm.

"Well that's just rude… I think I need to teach you guys some manners." The boy said as he jumped toward the Beowolf on the right, he kicked the Grimm in the gut and then to its shoulder sending it into the one on the left. He quickly followed them and landed his next kill shot into the center of the top Grimm causing damage to the bottom one. The Grimm was smart enough to grab the boy's leg before he could make another move. There was a bit of panic in the boy's eye but returned back to normal when he saw the flaming arrow lodge itself into the head of the Grimm turning it into nothingness. He gracefully landed back to the ground and looked back the damsel in distress turned savior form a rather bad looking gash and dent to his precious legs. "Hey thanks." He said to her as started walking over to her.

* * *

A little ways away someone was watching the whole thing through the scope of a sniper rifle.

"Well… it seems that she got that Skitarii kid as her partner." The boy said as he lowered his rifle and took off his classic skull white mask reveling the young pale face that hid underneath, short red hair just above his paler violet eyes. He then turned back to his fellow Assassinorum Agent. "What do you think Emerald, they could be a good pair." His partner scoffed at the idea. She would have preferred it if she had been their target's partner but that would look to convenient.

"I still don't get why the old man wants us watching the scared bitch… she's barely capable to become an Astartes."

"Oh… you don't know? Finally the Vindicare agent knows something the Callidus agent know not."

"Well… hurry up and spill it."

"I will… if you get me that shade of lime I've been eyeing."

"Fine… you'll get your paint now tell me what makes this girl so important."

"Its not her but her father that's the real target, apparently old man Malcador and the Alpha Legion Primarch have been suspecting him of being a Traitor and the main supporter of the Word Bearers and even a little of the World Eaters."

"That's some heavy accusations, is there any proof?"

"Not really, just some Thrones that can't be counted for. But every time it happens the Word Bearers do something big. So the connection is clear but not certain."

"So we get in good with his daughter and hope to find out if she knows anything." Emerald said smiling, it sounded just like something the old man would do and she loved it when he got creative.

"Yeah… hey…" The sniper said as a thought came to him. "This is a deep cover operation right?"

"Yeah."

"That means we don't break character… does this mean we are getting the Gene-Seed?" the two of them stood there in the tree they had perched in silent. Neither one wanted to believe that they had to go through the very painful processes but knew that the Temples would let it happen without giving it a second thought.

* * *

Megan wandered through the forest. She hadn't seen anyone at all. Not one of her brothers, not another Aspirant, not even a Grimm. She felt a bit unnerved by the isolation. Until she finally saw someone. He was face down in the ground and had a small Nevermore sitting on his back. The whole sight brought a small smile to her face that persisted as she walked over to Corvus.

"Need some help there _Freedom Fighter_." She said adding the air quotes to the word freedom fighter even though he couldn't see them. He yelled something back but it was muffed too much by the ground. "Let me guess… you were going too fast and tried to use that whip of yours to wrap around a branch so you swing around and end up hanging only for the force to swing you around once and then launch you into the ground. Sound about right?"

"Well aren't you going to be the most wonderful partner." Corvus said as he looked up at Megan.

"Yes… yes I am." Megan joked as she helped Corvus out of the ground. "At least you didn't get some moron… like Leman."

"That is true. So which way to the temple?" Megan took the lead and started taking the two the temple.

"You know what it means to have a partner right?" She started off as they walked through the forest.

"Not really." Corvus said as he pushed a branch out of the way.

"It means that we are now the first person to each other who we go to for support. Astartes partners are meant to be the inter-legion glue that binds us all together. A Astartes in the White Scars might have a partner in the Death Guard, now those two legions have very little in common but the bond those partners share still allows for the legions to have some hope of working together. Its made so the legions don't become isolated from each other. Even Astartes in rival legions like the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors have members that have partners that are in each other's legion. It helps everyone grounded and working together. So you're going to have to take this thing seriously because you and I are bonded together for the long haul." At that Megan stopped walking. "Before they name the teams, its tradition for the partners to confess something meaningful to them to their partner, it's called the Brotherhood Pact… it was made in the time before they let women in the Astartes." Megan slightly chuckled before continuing. "So I'm warning you now, you better be ready." She said before continuing on, leaving Corvus to process the information just laid out to him. He had no idea just how seriously this was, did everyone know about this? And they still talked about it earlier this morning so casually. But they were simply ready for it… well maybe not Jaune, Corvus was pretty sure that he had no idea what was coming. The two walked through the forest for about an hour before reaching the small clearing where the stone temple stood. They could see Yang and Corvus recognized the girl from last night. "Hello over there!" Megan shouted to the other pair of Aspirants.

"Hey Megan! Corvus!" Yang shouted back as they approached. "Look, the relics are chess pieces." Yang said as she held out her Knight. Megan smiled as she looked at the various pieces before walking over to one of the Kings and taking it.

"The King?" Corvus asked as he joined the others as he had lagged behind Megan.

"Because Leman will go right for the King and if I know father like I know I do he will throw a fit if we're not on the same team, as much as am loathe to accommodate this…" Megan stopped talking when they all heard Ruby yelling as she fell down from the air only to be hit by Jaune causing both of them to be knocked into a tree.

"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked her new partner. Before Yang could respond the sound of something shouting by and crashing into the stone temple could be heard.

"Hello Leman… nice of you to join us." Megan said as she poked Leman's head with a recovered stick. "Mind explaining just how you arrived here?"

"It was all that idiot's fault!" Leman said as he stood up and pointed to Fulgrim as he was being chased by a Beringel Grimm. Leman only then noticed the chess pieces and like Megan predicted went right for the king. "I got the best one!" Leman yelled before they all turned to the sound of a Ursa crashing through the forest line, and seemed to be ridden on by a very hyper active red headed girl. The Ursa quickly fell to the ground exhausted.

"Nora… please… don't ever do that again." Ren breathed out as he tried to catch his breath. But when he looked back up he noticed that Nora was gone. The others looked back and saw her take the rook piece doing a little song and dance. "Nora!"

"Coming Ren." She said as she hopped back to her Partner.

"Did that girl just ride in on a Ursa?" The next crazy thing to happen was a Death Stalker chasing another female Aspirant past the tree line.

"Ruby!" Jaune yelled as Ruby jumped off the branch they had landed on.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled as Ruby rolled over to the group.

"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she went to hug her sister.

"Nora!" Nora yelled to join in on the fun.

Did she just run all this way with a Death Stalker on her tail." Blake pointed out as the Scorpion Grimm chased said girl.

"I can't take it anymore!" Yang yelled in anger as he Semblance kicked in. "Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again." They all complied and waited the asked five seconds before Ruby pointed up and the struggling Weiss who was hanging on to the talon of a giant Nevermore.

"I said jump…" Ruby mumbled.

"She's going to fall." Blake remarked.

"She'll be fine." Ruby defended.

"She's falling." Ren pointed out.

"Yay." Megan said as she took out her scroll to take picture for her new screen saver. They all watched as Weiss fell only to be caught by Jaune who also fell and provided Weiss with a soft landing at least. "Damn… she didn't go splat."

"You're just joking, right?" Corvus asked his new partner unsure just how much she was in fact joking.

"An underdog if I've ever seen one." Leman commented as both Pryyha and Fulgrim were knocked back into the group by their Grimm. "And now the pack's all together."

"Great now we can die together too."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Ruby said before charging at the Death Stalker only to be beaten back and forced to retreat back to the group with the Nevermore moving in for a strafing run. The giant bird shot down a fury of quill like feathers, one of them catching Ruby's hood. Yang rushed forward to try and save Ruby but was beaten to it by Weiss who blocked the incoming Death Stalker tail.

"You are so childish." Ruby could hear barely, her slight terror muffling her senses for the moment.

"Weiss?" Ruby looked up to see Weiss had formed a wall of ice trapping the Death Stalker's claw and tail.

"And dim-witted, And hyperactive. And don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss said as she turned around to Ruby. "And I suppose… I can be a bit… difficult. But if we're going to do this. Then we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to to be a show off… then I'll be nicer…" Before Ruby could respond the Beringel Grimm roared as it appeared towering above them. It moved to crush them under its fist but was also incased like the Death Stalker but this time tendrils of solid Dust wrapped around the arms of the gorilla like Grimm.

"Ugh… I just saved a Schnee… I feel so filthy." The two girls looked back and saw Megan with her right arm completely uncovered, show her glowing tattoos. "But then again… Ruby is worth a thousand Schnee brats." Ruby looked back at Weiss expecting her to respond angrily at the insults to her and her family but just saw her look away with a uncomfortable look on her face.

"Hey! don't about her like that." Ruby said in defense of her partner.

"I can say what ever the warp I want about her. Right Schnee brat?" Weiss again didn't respond.

"Listen here. I don't care who you are you don't…" Before Ruby could finish her sentence Corvus appeared between the two with the most serious look on his face either of them had seen.

"Both of you shut up! This isn't the time for fighting among ourselves. That Nevermore is circling back for another run, and I doubt these two are going to stay trapped. We get what we came for and get the warp out of here." The two girls looked at each other, neither one could argue with that logic. With a scoff Megan began walking back to the rest of the group while Ruby returned to help her Partner.

"Well look at you taking charge." Yang joked as Corvus returned to the group after Megan followed by Ruby. "So what's the plan oh fearless leader?"

"Shut it. I'm just trying to live a little longer. And the plan is to get back to the cliffs and the safety of having a Primarch on our side."

"Run and live… that is an idea I can get behind." Jaune said before Leman hung his arm around him.

"What wrong pup? Scared to fight some Grimm?" Leman said with a grim smile on his face.

"There's no point in fighting these things. We just needed to get an piece and return to the cliffs." Ruby added as she took one of the knights and Jaune took a Rook.

"Then lets get moving people." Corvus said as he started running back to the Cliffs.a few of the teens looked back at the sound of the Death Stalker and Beringel escaped their confinement. There was a few sounds of fighting between the two Grimm before they once again focused on the humans. The group continued to run and ended up at the base of the cliff surrounded by black obelisks and tomb like buildings. The Nevermore flying around the taller obelisks, the sounds of the ground based Grimm charging after them right behind.

"Looks like I get my fight after all." Leman happily growled out as the rest of them readied themselves. The Never more screeched and began flying down to the group.

"Nora distract it!" Ren yelled as they all took their positions. The girl responding happily as she shot up grandees at the Nevermore supported by Megan who fired up shards of pure Dust.

"Alright DJ…" Leman said to his brother. "… play something fast, I want to keep up hood." Fulgrim just laughed as he readied his Semblance while the non-Gold family teens looked back the pair with confusion. The watched as Fulgrim extended his arms and tightly packed bars ringed around him.

"Burn or Strike brother?" Fulgrim asked as he readied his sword like a composer would for his band, but with a stick and not a sword.

"Lets go with Strike." Leman said as he rotated his shoulder in perpetration.

"Very well." And with that the teens could begin to hear the beginning beat of a song playing in the air. **(Play Strike by Airtones, I don't own this song.)** Almost immediately as the song started Leman began moving at speed only Ruby could achieve. Not only that but the rest of the group, minus Ruby, found a dramatic increase to their speed.

"Whatever he's doing its awesome!" Yang yelled out as she flipped over the Beringel in half the time she normally needed. The Grimm tried to follow the blond but was to late to stop her from landing a explosive punch to its thigh. Weiss quickly placed a glyph under the ground it was falling to sending it up in the air on a pillar of ice.

"It's his Semblance, this music effuses his allies with power… so ong as he can keep the music going." Megan explained before blocking a javelin like feather from hitting her composing brother.

"It makes every fight that just more fun!" Leman yelled as he cut off another Death Stalker leg while Pryyha and Jaune distracted the front of the beast with sped up attacks. "No one can say background music doesn't make everythin' more epic."

* * *

Commissar Flint and Primarch Sanguinius watched the fight from a live feed from one of the many Servo-Skulls that prowled the forest.

"And they took down the Beringel." Flint remarked as they watched Blake stab right through the Grimm's neck. "These kids certainly look promising, even the normal not Gold kids are putting up a fight against three level two Grimm."

"It looks like you owe me five Thrones." Sanguinius smirked as they watched Jaune coordinate the attack on the Death Stalker.

"He's still skinny." Flint grumbled.

* * *

The Beringel disappeared into nothingness as the rest of the group focused on the Death Stalker. While Ruby and Corvus continued with their attacks on the flying Nevermore. They were still being given support from Norn who did a good job of keeping the bird in the ruins and thus giving Ruby and Corvus plenty of towers to climb and jump around on.

"Its coming to you!" Corvus yelled as he activated his Semblance, the Nevermore lost track of Corvus and looked back to attack Ruby. But she was all set to fire enough rounds into the Grimm to cause it to duck under the arch she was standing on instead of hitting her like it wanted to.

Corvus then reappeared falling down towards the bird's back, landing blades first into the right-wing joint. The sound of bones cracking was loud enough for Ruby too hear. The nevermore dove down unable to continue its flight with the loss of its wing. Corvus jumped off and on to the another arch just as the Nevermore dropped down into the darkness.

"This was Awesome! Let's do it again!" Leman yelled form on top the defeated Death Stalker as it slowly dissolved away. Nora yelling along with the Wulfen. While everyone else mentally agreed that was a very bad idea.

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes for the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter Eighteen, The Imperial Creed_

In the wake of the Day of Strife and the formation of the Imperium. It was unavoidable that people would see the Emperor as a divine figure. The Imperial Creed, a combination of the many cults that had formed. They were brought together by the man Sabastian Thor. And the worship of the Emperor became the normal very quickly among the human population while the Eldar simply just added him into their Pantheon as the God of Humanity. And the Orks… they still say their gods could beat any but would have the best time fighting the Emperor as and here is a quote from a Ork Shaman, "He's be da a good right proper humie, he's knowns how's to fight like an ork." End quote.

While the Imperial Creed is the most popular and widely practiced religion in the Imperium, it is not the State Religion. The Emperor was very clear that no one faith shall rule over Man. He had not outlawed belief but made sure that it would have as little sway in governing as possible. Many Historians say that he had foreseen his worship and knew that while he couldn't prevent it he could control how much it would affect his dream for humanity.

The Basic beliefs of the Imperial Creed is best said in its mantra, the Emperor Protects. It si believed that if someone lives out their life in the service of the Emperor and work toward his dream, when you die you shall join him on Holy Terra, a realm of peace and wonder. Built by the Emperor in the image of his former home of the Terra on Remnant. He sits on the Golden Throne guiding humanity towards a better future.

But what of those that don't work towards the Emperor's goals? Where do they go? The Imperial Creed teaches that those poor souls end up in the Warp. A realm of nightmares and Daemons. This realm is Ruled by the Grimm Gods, it is a realm of confusion and a place where logic holds no power. It has even been slightly confirmed by a Daemon of the Grimm God Tzeentch that the Warp does in fact exist, however given the fact it came from a Daemon of the Weaver of Lies this might just be another plot. This claim is so disputed that the preachers of the Imperial Creed don't advertise this fact.

* * *

Author's Notes

No one guessed who was the White Scars Primarch? Come on! He's drunk a lot! That's a great hint! and also the reason that i don't describe the RWBY characters as much as I do the 40k ones is because it's a lot easier to look up the RWBY cast as their looks don't really change that much while the 40k characters have some pretty big changes to them like age... and gender.

Reviews

Red Server- Well you got more, and yes… he is. Don't ever let anyone tell you different.

Darkerpaths- Thanks, looking forward to more of your story and I hope you enjoy mine.

Kamzil118- Oh… the boringness of Papa Smurf knows no bounds

Kho'rrah the Raiser of lulz- what the shit balls! That is a screen name. thank you for reading.

Trickster3696- Answered in PM

Pacer287- Oh yes, that fucking altar boy gets everything he gets in this story and every others. TTS forever.

Smurphy1999- Answered in PM


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes.

First off I want to say I'm very pleased with the reaction I'm getting and two I'm taking a bit of liberty with Ren and Nora's backstory as RWBY doesn't get one so I'm going to.

* * *

The Aspirants all stood in lines in the Great Banquet hall of Beacon. Parents and family members of many of the protective Astartes currently crowded on the sides.

Ruby stood next to Weiss and saw her dad wave to. She was glad that he was able to make it for this, it certainly made her happy to see him in a better mood. He had been so sad the last few years since her mother died, Ruby had been better with help from Yang and uncle Qrow while her dad… while he kinda shut everyone out. He had gotten better in the past months though.

Corvus stood next Megan, looking around the hall for anyone that he might recognize. He had no family to speak of and the only people that might show up are the various guards that still didn't believe the fact he was becoming an Astartes. But to his surprise he saw the old woman that oversaw the juvey library.

Blake noticed that Yang was looking a bit on edge. She had given her father a single wave of acknowledgement and it seemed friendly but after… it felt like she just wanted to get this over with. And Blake felt similar, there was only one thing she could say or more correctly do when it was their turn for the Brotherhood Pact.

Leman, Fulgrim, and Megan all tried their damnedest to ignore their father taking far too many pictures. Though Leman was surprised that the twerps Alpharius and Omegon were so quiet, he was expecting them to be climbing the great tapestries. But none of them were surprised to see the tween Konrad hanging back while reading a Night Haunter comic.

Mercury looked and checked the various security cameras that he could access for anyone from Mars. It was unlikely but he needed to be sure. With a sigh of relief, he could see no Tech Priest.

Weiss didn't even to bother to look for her family in the crowd, she knew that the only time they would ever come to Beacon would the day she graduated as valedictorian.

Jaune waved back at his family, all of them, they all came. Pyrrha slightly giggled at the many sisters that Jaune seemed to possess. Five… six… seven sisters in total.

Emerald took a wary glance around her. Mistress M'Shen was in this room, she was sure of it. She could be any of the people and might even be one of the Aspirants but she was here. Pausing from her watch for her Temple master she turned to her partner, Karma… she still didn't know his last name but it was very likely that his first wasn't even his own. He just stood there, eerily still as the ceremony was being prepared for.

Ren and Nora continued to ignore the happy drunk that was their sorta mentor. He had taken the two under his wing after the two had lost their families to an ork raid. A retired Guardsmen he wanted the two to do better and pushed them into this current path.

Cinder waved back at her mother, she hadn't expected her to come but was happy that she did. She was even happier that her father didn't come.

"Attention… can I have everyone's attention." Everyone turned back to the main stage to see Ozpin standing at the forefront of all of the other Primarchs, including the Primarch of the White Scars Primarch Qrow, Ruby and Yang wondered how much force was needed to do that. "We have here the next generation of Vale Astartes. Before we announce the teams, we must have the partners procced with the Brotherhood Pact, this is a tradition that goes back to the start of the Legions. This will be the foundation of trust and comradery for the rest of your time as Astartes. It may be a secret or a part of your past but whatever it is… it must be something that you would only be willing to tell someone you trust with your life." Ozpin nodded to the Aspirants who in turn all move to the various chambers that had been built into the sides of the hall for this purpose.

* * *

Ruby stared at the heiress, she didn't know what to confess. She didn't have any real secrets. But this was the start of their partnership and now she was ruining it.

Weiss sighed, she was not looking forward to this part of becoming an Astartes and it had to be this dolt. It had to be her… well she wasn't that bad. She was at the very least capable in combat.

"I guess I'll go first." Weiss finally let out. "I…" It was a lot harder saying this than she thought. "I… don't want to be an Astartes." Ruby tried to keep the shock down but it was clear on her face. "Wait." Weiss said sternly. "I don't want to be an Astartes for the reasons my parents want me to have. They want me to become a Primarch of the Ultramarines so that the Schnee Company can have more influence in the Imperial government. But I don't want that. I want to be part of the Astartes to help the Imperium. To make it better. I know that a lot of the Imperium is corrupt… I know… my family is part of it. I want to join the Alpha Legion or the Night Lords or something that will help the Imperium." The heiress sighed, having let go of something that had hung in her mind for so long, it feeling good to finally say it out loud.

"And I know you can… we haven't known each other for that long Weiss but… I already know that you can do it." Ruby said trying to reassure her partner.

"Thank you Ruby… now… it's your turn." Ruby responded with a nervous laugh and the playing with her fingers. "What?"

"I don't have anything… I'm an open book. I don't really have any secrets."

"Well it doesn't have to be a secret. It could be something you feel or a memory." Ruby thought over what Weiss and Ozpin said. It took a little thought but she figured out what she wanted to say.

"I don't feel like I deserved to come to Beacon this early but… I don't care. Because I finally made friends like you and Megan and Leman and Fulgrim and… umm… Corvus. Back at Signal I was the weapon nerd who everyone avoided like a Nurgling and all I had was Crescent Rose and Yang. I don't think should be here but at the same time I really want to be."

* * *

Leman and Fulgrim sat in front of each other. Both of them knew a lot about each other's past and this had Leman a bit over confident that they would get away without having to do anything.

"Leman…" Fulgrim started shocking the Wulfen. "… I don't think I've ever forgiven you." Leman narrowed his eyes at this. "I still think of you as a brother and I love you but… you, Sanguinius, Jaghatai… I don't think I could ever forgive any of you."

"Because we're mutants." Leman said, his voice low and calm. He knew where this came from and was at peace with it. He didn't hold it against Fulgrim, not at all. "I see… well if we're actually doing this. I'm never going to stop in my hunt of the bastard who took my family from me."

"But father said…"

"I don't care what he said!" The rage and hate from Leman's voice rung out in the small box the two sat in. "I will tear that bastard apart with my own two hands and people will call it justice! That's why I'm becoming Primarch of the Tundra Wolves, so that I can hang him from the Fang and people will cheer for what I've done!"

* * *

Yang and Blake watched as the guard shut the door. Both pairs of eyes turned to the other occupant

"Umm… so do you want to go first or should I?" Yang said trying to keep some of her light mood from being crushed by the depressing area they found themselves in. Only a single arched window gave them a bit of light.

"Could you start off…" Blake said, unsure of how to put the words for her side of the pact.

"Okay… I only chose to become a Astartes in order to find my mom, I know that we are suppose to do this for selfless reasons but..." Yang said with zero regret. "… she disappeared and I'm going to find her. I know that she's out there, but I'm just one person. And while I'm not the smartest person or the best at getting people to tell me their secrets… I'm good at punching stuff. So I thought, well… there's a whole Legion of dudes that does just that and the leader of that Legion knows the people that are best at finding stuff out. So one day, I'm going to become the Primarch of the War Hounds and use the connections that come with it to find my mom." Blake was shocked, never before had she met someone with such… resolve. It made her feel slightly better about what she was about to do. "Okay…" Yang sighed. "… Your… turn…" Yang said as Blake took off her bow, releveling two cat ears.

* * *

Emerald held Karma up by his neck with her feet.

"What are you so angry about… we're supposed to tell something personal."

"Saying that it's your dream to one day conquer me isn't what they had in mind and I'm ninety percent sure you just said that to piss me off."

* * *

Jaune was nervous, he knew what he was going to say and it terrified him. How was Pyrrha going to react to the news that he actually didn't make it in to Beacon but he had stolen documents from his older sister's office at the Administratum.

"Did you want to go first?" Pyrrha asked, the slight echo in the room had surprised Jaune.

"Um… yeah… ah… Pyrrha… I didn't… are you sure that no one can hear us in here?"

"Yes, this is to be just between us."

"Oh… okay… um… I didn't…" Jaune took a deep breath and maybe should have slowed down the next few words. "I didn't qualify for Beacon and stole some of the documents need form my sister who works at the Vale Administratum while dropping off her lunch." That last part he didn't mean to say but just came out. Pyrrha just looked at him before reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Jaune… I saw how you acted in the fight in the ruins. You belong here."

* * *

Cinder was shocked at what Mercury had said about the Skitarii. The cybernetic army of Mars. It was famous for its loyal and fearless members but… to know why they were that way.

"Do they really…. I mean… they can't?"

"They do… every day. But it's fine. After today they can't touch me." He said with a great smile that seemed to be far different than the normal confident one he had on his face. This one was smug. "Don't dwell on it… Mars is far away and they don't care about Astartes. They have their own worries… like finding me… but no really."

"Okay… um… I'm not sure what to say. I guess I could talk about my family."

"The house of Abaddon?"

* * *

Ren and Nora sat in fairly awkward quiet. Neither one of them knowing what to do.

"I stole your hair brush one time?" Nora said trying to say anything.

* * *

Corvus reappeared in a dusting of raven feathers for the third time. It was really starting to get on Megan's nerves.

"You need to take this seriously. I told you that back in the forest now you have to man up and do this." Megan groaned before calming herself. "If it helps then I'll go first. Do you have any idea why I hate the Schnee girl so much?"

"Your parents are Dust miners and the Schnees' worked them dead?" Corvus said making the best guess but also knowing that won't explain why Weiss always backs down and takes Megan's insults.

"It has to do with my arms…" Megan said as she began unwrapping the bands that normally covered her arms. Corvus for the first time saw the tattoos that covered her arms in detail. They were solid red with little shading towards the edges. They whipped around her arms in a triangular pattern, it gave off a very geometric feel. "… That's Dust. The story behind how it got under my skin is a sad one. There once was the Prospero family. A dad, a mom, and a daughter. They were happy, the father worked for the Schnee Dust Company in its R&D department. Mother worked as a teacher in one of the normal schools. The daughter was just a kid... a happy one. Then one day the Father discovered how to infuse Dust into the skin. The Schnee Dust Company was expectedly very interested and wanted to patent this then and there but the father disagreed, saying that the processes wasn't finished and could only be done on a few select people." Megan's face turned a little more sour. "The Schnee Dust company, eager to get that sweet money that could come from this ignored the warnings of the guy who discovered this new process. They took twenty men and strapped them to tables and started to tattoo them with Dust. It didn't work. The men destroyed everything they came across; the Dust had affected their minds. But in their rampage, they did things that defied common logic, they controlled Dust with their minds. The Schnee Dust company didn't see the crazy men bent on destroying everything in their path as they were blinded by the numbers in their minds. They brought in their other top researcher and he found out that one of the people that can survive the processes was the daughter of the man who discovered this whole thing. Did they try to find another because this was a child." The sound of Megan's fists tightening had been amplified by the small space.

"I'm going with no." Corvus said knowing just how greed affects people.

"They strapped the frightened child to a table and started going to work. By the time the father found out it was all over. the child had been the first success... then the company had an idea... maybe it was in the blood... and then they strapped the father to the table. Didn't work. Then the mother. Didn't work. The child became a lab rat to find out just what made her work. Then one day that was once again filled with experiments and borderline torture... in rides the Alpha Legion. Shutting down the horrible nightmare. The child was then delivered to the only guy in the world that could deal with the massive mental scaring the child suffered… Mr. Gold."

"Neat story… I'm guessing that you played a part in it somewhere." Corvus' words were light but his tone was not. It was filled with understanding and anger all at the same time. The stare that Megan gave back was all he needed. "Well… one good turn deserves another. I guess I could tell you exactly what landed me in juvey."

"Seems a little disproportional." Megan chuckled.

"It's not." Those words were not a joke. "My current legal status is… constantly in question. I f not for Ozpin I would be either in two places, in a cell or on the street. I guess I could blame the whole thing on a lack of parents. Mother died from… well… me… and dad… decided that it would be best if he took a love from very far away approach to the whole parenting thing. So… don't really have much support, no parents to tuck me in at night, tell me that its just a thunder storm, send me off to school, or at the very least… feed me. Was it really a surprise that I had killed a guy trying to rob a store for food."

* * *

The Aspirants flowed out of their bonding rooms and back into formation in front of the Headmaster and Primarchs. The crowds had been removed from the hall so it was deathly quiet. Everyone in the hall had looks of unease or tired keeping stoic faces but it was clear to all of what they had to do. They all had just come from a very personal moment with their partner and were still processing the information. Some were better than others while a few had feelings that they would have to get through for the next few months or even years.

Ruby looked over to her sister as Ozpin began his next speech and begun calling up the teams. She wondered what her and Blake talked about. Well… Ruby had an idea about what Yang said but had zero idea about Blake.

She then looked back Corvus, he and Megan seemed to be doing better than the others. She also noticed that Weiss made a small look back at Megan before returning her eyes to the stage. Ruby was about to ask what was the problem when she and Weiss were called up with Yang and Blake.

Corvus watched as the newly named team RWBY accepted their name and leader from Ozpin. He had a feeling Ozpin planned that one out as much as he was sure Mr. Gold had planned out his kids being put on the same team. It had been stumping him ever since he learned about the whole naming system that they had going. If he had it right they needed to use the letters C, M, P, F, R, L, R, in some way and he was having a hard time coming up with one. But he was about to find out as he heard his name and the others called out.

"Corvus Corax, Magnus Prospero, Fulgrim Rasputin, Leman Russ." Ozpin called out, the said students quickly joined him on the stage. "You have chosen the King Pieces, and from this day forth you shall be team CRML **(Caramel)** led by… Corvus Corax." All four teens stared back at the announcement, mostly due to the moronic name. Leman was particularly pissed off. It took Megan and Ozpin full stare down to keep him from ruining the ceremony. The four returned to their spots, avoiding any eye contact form their peers.

"Caramel…" Yang quietly chuckled before shutting up to Leman's animalistic growl. Ruby was perhaps the only one a bit jealous of the name, what was wrong with caramel… it was her third favorite sweat. Right under fudge and cookies.

"Now…" Ozpin started once the last team was named. "… you will all report to your bunk rooms and then to Apothecary Bile for your first Gene-Seed implant. I wish you luck on your first days here at Beacon."

* * *

Ruby lay back, completely naked, on the medical table. Understandably she was nervous. All around her were machines that looked more at home in a torture room than one for surgery. And she was pretty sure that they all had blood on them. And then the tanks… there were so many of them. All had various organs suspended in some kind of green liquid.

Ruby turned her head, the only thing she could move, to the sound of the opening door.

"My my… what have we here… a child? Has Ozpin finally opened up to my requests to perform experiments on a younger stock." The man said, his voice high and very creepy form Ruby's opinion. He was dressed in white lab robes, long white hair but not like Weiss or Fulgrim's slivery hair but more of a sickly bleached kind of white. His scared and clearly altered face turned to a frown when he checked the clipboard in his hand. "No… you're just that special case. Pity." He said before looking over Ruby, his frown never leaving his face even as he marked Ruby's stomach with a marker. "I have long since hypnotized that the younger the subject the better they will take to the Gene-Seed." He said before moving back to his workbench.

"Umm… if I may ask… what are you going to do? Because I'm not afired of needles… not one bit." Ruby lied, she was very scared of needles and was hoping that the straps keeping her down to the table were just some way of scaring the new Aspirants.

"I am going to cut you open and implant the first of the Gene-Seed… silly girl."

"Oh okay if that,,, What! Cut… Cut me open?!" Ruby yelled, giving the man a slight headache.

"We must they always be so noisy." He mumbled as he tied down a rope over Ruby's mouth. "Listen girl and listen well… I am going to cut from here…" One of the man's spider like augments extended and poked above her right breast. "… down to here." The metal appendage moved down to the base of the stomach where he had marked earlier. "This is what make's an Astartes an Astartes. Did you think it was your Aura or your skill with Dust? No, it is the Gene-Seed. Any fool can use Aura… but do not worry. This is but the first of sevreal implants that you will need to go through during your time here. I will not give any comfort in the ways like that it will get easier… it will not… or that you will come out unscathed. Only the strong deserve the power that only pain can bring." The man known throughout the Imperium as Fabius Bile, sculptor of the flesh, said as he made the first cut into Ruby's skin, ignoring the muffled screams that came from her… he had heard far louder.

* * *

Yang sat impatiently on her new bed as she waited for Ruby to return form the Apothecary. Gene-Seed preparation was something taught at the last year at Signal and even then much of what they tell you is merely trying to help you get through the after effects.

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Blake said trying to help her new partner. While she had never had the training that came form the pre-Astartes schools she had heard rumors about the Gene-Seed implantation. None of them pleasant.

"Well of course she'll be fine, Ozpin wouldn't let her come two years ealry if he didn't think she could handle the process let alone the job " Weiss said also trying to help Yang but more trying to help defend her new partner from the same feelings that she had shared during their Brotherhood Pact. That of she didn't yet belong in the Astartes. Yang was about speak up but stopped at the sound of their door opening and two Servitors rolling Ruby on a stretcher.

"The girl will live…" Fabius said as he came in after the Servitors. "… Next on my list is you…" He pointed to Weiss though never looking up from his data slate. Weiss quickly looked over Ruby to see if she was indeed alright and after confirming she was followed Fabius out of the room. Yang quickly jumped off her bed and ran over to her sister.

"Ruby… are you oaky?" Yang asked as she gently shook Ruby awake.

"Yang? Go away… five more minutes." Ruby grumbled before tuning into her bed.

"Yeah… She's okay." Yang smiled at the safety of her sister.

* * *

Corvus looked out the onto the sunset. It was nice. His chest still feeling sore from the Gene-Seed implant. It felt like his chest was heavier but at the same time it didn't feel like something different. It was normal but at the same time not.

He shook his head pushing away such thoughts. These first few days were being used to get the students into their new home. Corvus looked down to the ground and watched the school's All-Purpose Ork run around chasing some snotlings that had taken to the school's basements. Grunto was his name Corvus remembered. Corvus watched as the Ork chased the hyperactive snotlings in circles around Beacon's front garden and chuckled. Before looking down a the sounds of hammers and a few bangs of furniture hitting the ground and each other.

Corvus climbed down the building's roofs and walls to investigate. Making sure to keep his Semblance on just in case. He looked through the window with the source noise and found team RWBY's room and it had been changed around. The beds now were stacked on each other and the rest of the room had been… teen girlifed,

"Wow… you guy are amateurs compared to my team." Corvus said, his head pecking out from the top right corner of the window. He neatly dodged and caught the book that had been thrown at him that came behind the scream from Weiss. "Relax… not here to peep." He said as he dropped to the floor and handed the book back to Blake who stared daggers at Weiss for almost losing one her books.

"Not like we would know when you do something like that… right Mr. Can make people not see him." Yang teased but when word got out about Corvus' Semblance the female population almost rioted. Ozpin had to now place Servo-Skulls at the entrance to restrooms and locker-room. Dorm Rooms had key card lockets so people thought they were enough. Team RWBY and JNPR knew Corvus enough to know that he wasn't the kind of guy to do something like peep so they weren't as worried.

"Hey, what do you mean by we're amateurs, I think we did pretty well." Ruby boosted.

"My team is going all out… they are even bringing in rocks to make Leman's side a cave." That bit of information made Yang and Ruby drop their jaws, Blake just raised an eyebrow, Weiss just scoffed. "Oh what's the matter Weiss… what's the saying… Schnee is Silver but Gold is always Gold." The Schnee Heiress glared at Corvus for the phrase that was often used to belittle the Schnee. While the Schnee was often despised for their business practices, the Gold Family was loved by many for their many charities and social work.

Team RWBY followed Corvus out of their room and down the hallway to his own dorm. With one push of the double doors team RWBY looked on to the whole world inside. On one quarter was a maze of bookshelves, filled to the brim with all sorts of books of all kinds. On other quarter was an entire area devoted to luxury and extravagance, mostly colored in purple and gold. And then there was the actual cave tucked away in the back corner. In the last corner was still the normal Beacon décor but for a lone bird cage where Deliverance currently perched.

"How…" That was all that came out of Ruby while the other couldn't even get that far.

* * *

Alpha Legion Data File

Potential Threats and or Targets

Subject: Salem

Designation: Unknown Entity

Threat Level- Depends on Actions Against Her

Author of Report Ozpin (Information Classified) Primarch of the Alpha Legion

While it is true that the being known as Salem has been a recent addition to the list of potential threats to the Imperium, I am not in the belief that she is a resent addition to the world.

From my operations involving the watch and observation of her. I have come to understand that she is highly intelligent and not to keen on showing her true power when she is under watch. I am also convinced without a doubt that she has never been observed and she did not know about it.

So far, I believe that a caution needs to be taken with Salem. During a mission I under took with a one (information delated) and the current Primarch of the Night Lords, quite the pair a must say. But during said mission we encountered Salem and to say that her appearance made the situation harder would be a massive understatement. Why she would interfere with a operation to (information deleted by orders of the Alpha Legion) is beyond me.

But one of the more disturbing aspects of the being is her apparent connection to the Gold Family. I have seen her and its patriarch speak frequently and while at first the exchanges seemed to be of a business nature. As my investigation got better at avoiding her gaze we were able to find a few moments of what seemed to be romantic moments between the two. (pictures and -ne video file attached, addendum- video file corrupted)

In conclusion to this summery report I think that all contact with Salem should be kept at a minimal. Currently she poses little to no harm to the Imperium though that could change. And one last bit of advice, what ever you do in her presence… do not get her angry. Do not mention the Grimm, The Emperor, or the Long Night.

* * *

Reviews

Trickster3696- thank but not just yet

Smurphy1999- thank you, and yes… slow walking menacingly out of the shadows

Nemris- Yeah I don't really like Lucius before his corruption, you did see the Primarch of the Alpha Legion (Ozpin) Yes, if Lorgar would just have listened to daddy then everything would be awesome.

Fussionsniper- Ding Ding, you win internet cookies

BluePanedGasMask- Maybe… that has… potential… but… not planning on it.

Pacer287- Get a Tech Priest stat! We can not lose this one! Even a Tech Marine would work!

Mo Eazy- Thank you, no… that was Grunto, the school's All-Purpose Ork, he does… ork stuff for the school.

Darkerpaths- thank you and thank you for the advice and I might do an index but once I get a little further

Masterix- Internet Cookies for you

Guest- don't know what I'm going to do with Jaune yet so maybe.

Chapter Master Sinclair- Yes, Us Raven Guard Brother must stick together! Victory or Death!

Bartogomeo- Thank you very much. And internet cookies for as well.


	5. Chapter 5

Ruby stared straight forward, she didn't make a sound, and she stood as upright as humanly possible. The reason for this time of out of character for her was because of what her uncle Qrow said when she left for Beacon.

" _Whatever you do… do not draw the attention of the Athletics Instructor_." Her uncle's words repeated themselves over and over again as said Athletics Instructor, Angron Nuceria, Glared down at her. His eye twitching at the sight of the youngest Aspirant in Beacon history. She bit down on her lip as he leaned in closer.

"Your Summer's girl right?" He asked, his voice graveled and deep. Ruby tried her best to not react to her mother's name.

"Yes… Mr. Athletics Instructor… sir." He continued to look Ruby over before nodding slightly and moving back. Ruby let out a very small breath as Angron returned to his walking inspection of the lined up Aspirants, all of them wearing matching athletic uniforms. Everything so far was not living up to her thought about what Beacon was going to be like. After the first three days that they were given to get settled in their rooms, they were given their schedules, at six in the morning they all were to report to the training field for morning exercises, which was set for three hours, then they were given a hour to shower and get breakfast in the Great Hall. Then the next five hours they had five different classes, then a hour for lunch and free time, then an four hours of combat training, and then dinner, then back to their rooms. It all seemed more ridged then it was at Signal.

"All right you baby faced weaklings! Welcome to your first day of Beacon." Angron boomed out as he carefully looked over each of the potential Astartes. "Every morning you will report here and we will start the day off with training exercises that hopefully will bring you to the peak of human possibility by the end of your first year. next year will go past that but that's a year and it's highly likely that quite a few of you will either die or whine enough to your parents to get you transferred out." Angron said this last part just as he stopped at Weiss. "I let me tell you princess, if you think Gene-seed application is painful wait until we get to take them out." He chuckled.

"Are you trying to say that I'm not…" Weiss stopped when she got the air knocked out of her lungs when Angron kneed her in the gut.

"This isn't play time kids…" Angron said as he crack a few of his knuckles. "This is Beacon. We brake you down and build you back as the Emperor's Angels of Death. That means every Instructor here is allowed to do whatever the fuck we want to you all… well expect kill ya. That's the Commissar's job." Angron finished before focusing on the chuckling Megan. The next thing everyone knew Angron had slammed Megan's head into the ground. "I will not be showing any favoritism!" Angron yelled as he pulled Megan up by her hair before walking away once he dropped her on her feet.

Ruby couldn't believe what she was seeing, this was definitely not like signal at all. The teachers at Signal would never harm a student. She watched as Angron walked over to the sunken track ring. It seemed odd to Ruby, it was built down into the ground with at least ten feet high walls and there was a metal cage over the top with only three openings of entry.

"Your very first exercise is one of my favorites. It's called the Snotling Run." At that a large cage of the Orknoid creatures was craned above the large opening above the starting point of the track field. "We will drop twelve of you in this ring and you will run from these little guys." Angron said as the cage connected to the opening and auto-latched on. "You will finish either when you have ran fifty laps, twenty minutes have passed, or all of the Snotlings are dead. Teams…" Angron started listing off the first round of team that were to take the run. The line of students dissolved as the called team begrudgingly walked over to the track ring and the teams of the 'punished' Aspirants went to their teammates.

"Weiss are you okay?" Ruby asked her partner as she helped Weiss back on her feet. Yang and Blake joining the two as soon as they could.

"Yes I'm fine." Weiss said trying not appear any more hurt than she was. "He just caught me off guard is all. But it's fine, it's what he's suppose to do."

"Just because he's suppose to do that doesn't mean he should like it so much." Yang grumbled loudly. "I mean come on, the guy could have seriously hurt you and all you did was call him on his bullshit…" Yang froze when the rest of her teammates faces turned pale. "… he's right behind me isn't he?" The terrifyingly deep chuckle was all the confirmation she needed. The next thing Yang heard was a small beep and then she felt something cold around her neck. She looked down and saw a metal collar, her partner recognizing immediately as a Aura suppression collar.

"I'm sure you can learn to appreciate my teaching methods when you're fighting off Snotlings without your Aura. At most the little psychos will do is bite and claw… and tear your hair out." Angron laughed as he returned back to the track ring. Ruby was expecting to see Yang go off and attack the Instructor for threating something like that but to her surprise and even more so Yang's… she didn't. Yang just looked confused, it wasn't that the normal rage wasn't there, it was, but it was the fact her Semblance wasn't activating. Her hair wasn't on fire and the normal power that flowed through her wasn't there.

"What the warp is this thing!" Yang screamed as she tried taking the collar off.

"It's a Aura Suppressing Collar." Surprising the three it was Weiss that answered. "My family's company developed them in order to help put down riots that happen at our mines. But they outlawed them soon after because the Ecclesiarchy said that suppressing Aura is affront to the God-Emperor. Enough people agreed and so the Imperium banned them. I heard rumors that they still used them in the Astartes schools, guess they were true."

"So what… my Aura is completely shut down?!" Yang scrambled to ask.

"Not completely." Team RWBY turned to see team CRML walking over, the person who answered being Megan. "Here…" Megan grabbed the collar and was able drain the Dust held in it down to the lowest levels she could without it alerting Angron that it was low on power. "… now you should have access to enough Aura to prevent any real damage… but umm… if enough of those Snotlings start pulling… yeah." Megan said with a knowing look, while she didn't have nearly the same amount of love Yang did for her hair, she did understand it. It had taken years for her to get her own to the point it was now.

"Thanks… I guess." Yang said more worried than angry as she stroked her precious hair. "But what is wrong with your crazy brother?!"

"Why are you asking us?" Fulgrim retorted. "You saw what he did to Megan, he doesn't play favorites."

"But why is…" Yang shut her mouth when she noticed that Angron wasn't in view.

"See, you're gettin' smarter." Leman joked. "If anything he'll respect you more if you get through this, more if you take it as a challenge." At that team RWBY had a collective light bulb go off. "That's his job isn't it… to challenge us so we can become the strongest humanity can get to… and even further than that."

"Wow, you actually for a moment made me forget you're a furry moron." Megan said with genuine amazement in her eye.

"Shut it nerd." They all then turned back when they haerd the sound of painful groans and saw team JNPR stumbling over to them ending in Jaune collapsing in front of them.

"If I never… see the color green again… it will be too soon." Jaune breathed out.

"That bad huh?" Corvus asked the exasperated team.

"It was a nightmare." Pyrrha answered, shocking everyone.

"The tiny horror… the tiny horror!" Jaune yelled out from the ground.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad… they may be quick but they sure are squishy." Nora happily chuckled, it was then that everyone noticed that Nora's hands were covered in green blood.

"Teams RWBY, MSTC, TSTL, you're up!" Angron was not hiding his excitement as he watched the three called teams walk over to the doors in the cage as a new batch of Snotlings were craned over to their opening. Team RWBY took their places as they waited for the sound of the starting gun. The second they heard it they bolted forward as the sound of high pitched screaming came roaring behind them. It took very little time for the little green balls of hyper active violence to catch up with the Aspirants as they were forbidden from amplifying their speed with their Aura, they were allowed to use it to protect themselves but the point of this was to build their strength and endurance and relying on their Aura too much defeated that goal. But unfortunately for Yang, she didn't even have the luxury of Aura protection due to the collar around her neck.

The Snotlings wasted no time in dong the one thing she feared they would do, go after her hair. It wasn't like it was a hard thing to do considering how much of it they had to grab. She was going to have to thank Megan again after all this because while the little bastards did pull and grab they never were able to tear any of her hair out. But it didn't make them any less annoying. And there seemed to be no end to the things, every one she would throw into the wall, causing it to die with a splat sound, another two would just take its place.

Once she had crossed the fifty lap mark, Angron yelled out her name and one of the hatches opened up for her. a few of the Snotlings tried to follow her out but were quickly killed.

"Well done Miss. Xiao Long, with that you have beaten out Miss Valkyrie's kill count and will most likely be the highest for today." Angron said smiling as he noted it down on his data slate. Yang just stared back at him surprised. "I do hope that it won't take my engorgement again for you to beat said kill count tomorrow." Angron chuckled looking back at the brawler. "Maybe by the end of the your time here you might beat my record of killing over ninety three percent of the bastards alone." Yang just stared back at her hero, this was the man that was considered the rightful Primarch of the War Hounds Legion. He was known far and wide as the Red Angel for his combat prowess.

"Thank you, sir." She said before giving a salute to the legendary berserker.

The next two hours were spent finishing off the rest of the teams and other forms of very brutal training. Leaving all of the Aspirants tired and very sweaty by the time for showers and breakfast.

"All right! You all stink." They all glared at the Instructor as he was the reason for said stink. "Hit the showers and get your grub, I'll see you all later tonight when we move to combat training." He said pointing to a single door with the word _Showers_ hanging above it.

"Umm… Instructor?" One of the girls started. "Why is there only one door." The feeling of dreed and excitement at the implications of that question spread like wildfire through the ranks of the first year Aspirants.

"This is my favorite part of the year." Angron mumbled to himself as the biggest smile any of them, including his fellow Gold family members, had ever seen. "Beacon has coed showers." He just smiled at the predictable reaction the female population gave him. "Shut it!" He yelled but it lacked the anger it normally had. "First off… for your first two years here, you can have towels. After that you air dry. Second, to the boys… think very carefully about what this means, because after the first two minutes of joy you all will have… you will all be exposed in many different ways." At that… the male population mood's dropped like a rock when it donned on what he might by that. "That's what I thought, the reason for this is because Astartes are might to be above the pettiness of normal humans. You are here at this school to be broken and rebuilt and part of that will be your morals and values. If you aren't ready to wash with the other gender, then you can go straight to the Great Hall for breakfast, and wait until tonight when you are back in your rooms to have a more personal shower." Angron said before laughing his way back to the main building of Beacon.

Teams RWBY, JNRP, and CRM all looked among themselves.

"Well I'm not going to go all day smelling like some filthy beastmen." Fulgrim said as he started walking towards the showers. Followed by Leman who simply didn't give a shit who saw him naked.

"As much as I hate to go along with this… he's right." Weiss said before walking towards the door.

"I don't see what the big deal is me and Ren…" Nora's mouth was covered by said boy before he started dragging along to the showers with the first bit of red anyone had ever seen on his face. Everyone left turned to where Jaune had been standing and found it empty.

"Um… I should find Jaune." Pyrrha announced before walking off to the main building, her face also red with idea that at some point both her and Jaune would have to join their other two teammates.

"I am not giving that furry moron the satisfaction of seeing me naked… I would never here the end of it." Megan said before angrily storming off back towards the Great Hall.

"So what about you?" Yang asked her partner, concerned about the fact that this might expose her as a Faunus.

"I should be fine, I really don't care all that much if people see me naked, and as for the other thing, I should be fine as they have towel I could use to cover my head." Blake confired for her partner before starting to walk to the showers with Yang following behind leaving Corvus and Ruby alone. Ruby was unable to compute just what she was required to do and was about to follow Jaune, Pyrrha, and Megan. But stopped when Corvus put his hand out in front of her.

"Can you keep a secret?" He asked not looking away from the shower door. "Because if you can… then I can get you through this."

"Anything?!"

"Are you sure… because if this gets to certain people then my life is over." Ruby knew she was bad at keeping little secrets but also knew she could be trusted with big ones, like Weiss and hers Brotherhood pact.

"Sure."

"You know my Semblance is that I can make people not notice me even if they are looking right at me… well… I can extend that power to other people."

"Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Ruby yelled out with joy as she hugged Corvus who was able to pry the girl off.

"You can never tell anyone… if someone like Leman or Cardin find out… I will never know peace." Corvus' voice and face were the most serious Ruby had ever seen of the teen. She nodded and zipped her lips even though her big smile didn't leave. "Fine… there. No one will see you." Ruby looked down and saw that her body now glowed with a shadowy black outline. And when she looked up Corvus was gone, she assumed that he also was using his Semblance, with a quick sigh of relief that it made the two of them unnoticeable to each other she walked toward the coed showers.

* * *

Ozpin looked out on to the still incoming masses of Aspirants as they came in after their morning exercises. A slight chuckle came up at the familiar sight of many of the Aspirants still in their training uniform, showing that they did not take their first coed shower.

He looked down his right to see Angron still beaming with delight at the sight. While Ozpin did find the awkwardness a tad humorous he never understood why the Red Angel took so much enjoyment of it.

Ozpin currently was seated at the head of the Upper Staff table, where the actual Instructors and the key staff ate, it was a long vertical table that ran the width of the Hall. It was also elevated slightly above the rest of the tables. Below the Upper Staff table was the Lower Staff table, headed by Commissar Flint who was going over Angron's first report on the fitness of the first years. The rest that lined the lower table was the assistants and under-instructors. It was the job of the under-instructors to help the Instructors by helping with the work load that was presented by the mass amount of students. And then there was the eight tables that ran the length of the Great Hall where the students sat.

Next to Ozpin on his right was his Vice-Headmaster, Glenda Goodwitch who was currently enjoy her first meal of the new school year.

To his left was Master of the Grounds Veriliad, a former Tech-Priest who now worked to keep Beacon's building and many machines running smoothly he was currently just sitting next Ozpin as he didn't require food but still obeyed the rule that staff eats with the students.

Next to Glenda was Fabius Bile, Beacon's Chief Apothecary who was currently… play dissecting his omelet.

To the left of Veriliad was Port, one of the main Instructors, it was he who taught the Aspirants about the various enemies of man, he was currently trying to engage Veriliad in conversion. Whether either of them even noticed the other when this happened was something of debate among the staff as Port could talk without noticing that Veriliad wasn't listening and Veriliad to engrossed in various tasks that kept most of his mind away.

The next to Fabius was Instructor Taldeer looking rather disgusted by the man sitting next to her, it was she who taught the subject of Dust and Aura as well as the Corrupting powers of the Grimm for later years.

And next to Port was the both Instructor and Master of the Armory Gebren Silver, a retired Iron Hands Astartes, he was currently waiting for the morning's newspaper.

Then to the right of Taldeer was Angron himself still smiling at the fact so many Aspirants were stinking up the Great Hall.

After Gebren was Instructor Severus Agmman, another retired Astartes from the Ultramarines, though there are many rumors that he in fact was ousted by the High Command of the Legion for reasons the man refuses to speak about. Ozpin was happy to give the man the job of teaching the ways of Imperial government if for no other reason than he hated to see the man reduced to such a sorry state.

Then finally last on his right side was Doctor Oobleck, teacher of history. He was currently looking out on to the sea of students wondering about their prospects.

"Extry! Extry! Gets yourz Newpaaperz!" Beacon's all-purpose Ork yelled out as he walked through the hall with a trail of Gretchin carrying stacks of various newspapers. "Er' you go Boss." Grunto said as he handed Ozpin the Imperium's most popular Newspaper, the Astropath. Named after the legendary beings that were said to have been able to speak to each other through their minds no matter what distance separated them.

"Thank you Grunto…" Ozpin said as he opened the paper.

"Anything good?" Glenda asked before taking another bite form her toast.

"Front page story… excitement about our new crop of Aspirants. Normal for this time of year." Ozpin said before flipping to the next page. "In sports, Vale's Blood Ravens have beaten Altus' Black Templars in the last Blood Bowl game. And they apperntly stole the other team's mastcot before the game… as they normally do." Ozpin noticed that there were a few whoops and cheers from the student body, likely they found the sports page as well. "The Tundra Wolves have announced that they have ended another successful hunt, ending with the head of a Beastman War Chief mounted on the Great Hall of the Fang." Ozpin was about to take other sip from his recaf but stopped when he saw a small article on the apparent rebellion in one of the Tau's colonies. That simply just didn't happen, it was no wonder it was such a small article likely the editor thought it might be just gossip but put it in there in case it was genuine.

Ozpin leaned back in her chair as he thought about this. The Damocles War had ended but that did not mean the Imperium and the Tau were friendly. The war had only ended because another Black Flood had erupted. The Tau were the newest foe to the Imperium and a strange one at that. Unlike the Grimm or the Orks, they didn't want to destroy Humanity. And unlike the pirates of the Dark Eldar, their desire for humans wasn't dripped with evil intent. But they weren't like Craftworld Eldar in that they were content to their established borders, the Tau were very clear in their intent towards the Imperium, subjugation or destruction.

But this new bit of information was intriguing to say the least. The Tau had highly advanced technology, advanced enough to make a Tech-Priest's mouth water. And yet it was hard to get your hands on it, it was all rigged to explode after a set amount of time so the Imperium wasn't able to get any working pieces during the war. Bit and bobs of ruined tech made for a few angry glares from the Tech-Priest. But if one of the Tau's colonies had rebelled… that might be a very interesting opportunity.

Megan opened up her newspaper, and went straight to the Thousand Sons Ten Facts of the Day column. She loved this morning ritual that she had, Ten Facts, orange juice, egg whites, and toast with blueberry jam. Even if she stunk to high Terra, she won't let it ruin her morning.

She, Jaune and Pyrrha had been banished by the rest of their teams who were now sitting all together at the next table over. Megan only looked up only when Jaune had noticed that Ruby had come into the Great Hall… followed by Megan's partner. What was more odd was that Megan had fully expected Ruby to be among the sticky like them but there she was skipping to the rest of her team cleaned and in her normal clothes. Megan looked back her partner as he followed behind Ruby… then the wheels of Megan's mind started turning.

It was the second after Corvus sat down to breakfast that he found himself being dragged out of the Great Hall by his partner. Many people watching the scene with amused looks but one girl with more of a worried one.

"What's wrong Ruby?" Weiss asked after she noticed her partner's worried expression.

"Oh nothing… so what class do we have first?" Ruby said as she returned to her normal peppy personality before writing down her breakfast order and handing it to one of the many floating Servo-Skulls that upon getting the paper zoomed to one of the many ports to the kitchen.

"It's Dust and Aura with Instructor Taldeer." Blake answered from her keen interest of her very fishy breakfast. The group of teens looked up to the only Eldar in the whole Hall.

"Wow… she pretty." Ruby absentmindedly said out loud.

"Of course… she's Elf." Leman said before ripping off a piece of his whole side of ham that was his entire breakfast. "Elves be pretty too look at." Leman joked before being slapped in the back of his head by Fulgrim.

"That is rude, they are called Eldar, not Elves." Fulgrim said before he returned to his fancy breakfast, the kitchen staff so far were not likely his or Weiss eating habits and expectations of them.

* * *

"What the wrap has gotten into you?" Corvus complained as Megan propped him up outside the Great Hall.

"We're partners, right?" Megan asked bluntly.

"Yeah…" Corvus answered nervously.

"And we tell each other everything right?"

"Yeah…" He didn't like where this was going.

"So tell me… did you use your Semblance on Ruby?" Corvus just looked away trying to hide his guilt. He could keep a perfectly stony face under Raven Guard Wardens and the gangs in juvey but Megan could break him like no other could.

"Maybe…" He looked up to Megan who just kept her unreadable expression. She just looked like she was analyzing that one worded answer but at the same time Corvus felt she was going over the various ways she was going to punish him for keeping something from her.

"I see… that was very nice of you." Megan said nodding her head while Corvus just looked shocked. "Exactly how many people can you hide?"

"Um… one person I can do fine. Two I get a headache, three I throw up and get sick. And four I pass out."

"Okay… then every morning you will use your power on me and Ruby."

"But then I can't use it on myself… no that's fine." Corvus backtracked when Megan's face soured a bit. "I'll just… have a headache every day and deal with the awkwardness myself."

"Good." Megan said cheerfully before walking back into the Great Hall.

* * *

Once their Hour of breakfast was finished the new first year Aspirants gathered in one of the grand lecture halls. It was seven circles of descending rows of seats and desks ending in the floor where the Instructor stood ready, instead of the normal Blackboard there was a holo-projector ready to display anything the Instructor needed.

"Dust…" Taldeer said, her voice amplified so the whole hall could hear her. "… Used by the Imperium for many things, some more trivial than others."

Ruby listened as the Instructor continued on with her start of the year lecture. She looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Next to her was her partner, Weiss was dutifully taking notes even though much of what the Instructor was saying was very basic common knowledge as this was the very first day.

Then on her other side was her sister, who was currently hiding the game on her Scroll. Next to Yang was Blake who was still paying attention to the Instructor but not nearly as much as Weiss.

" **I AM SKARBRAND! I SHALL CRUSH YOUR PATHETIC HUMAN HEAD!"** Ruby and Yang looked up in shock at the freighting hologram screaming at them before it vanished.

"Miss Xiao Long, please pay attention." The Instructor scolded as Yang put away her Scroll, her face red from embarrassment. Ruby looked down to see Leman chuckling at the expense of his friend's embarrassment.

"Now if the rest of you will be a bit more attentive than Mr. Skarbrand will no longer be showing his ugly face again." Taldeer said before returning to her lecture.

Ruby sighed out of relief that she wasn't being scolded before returning to her wandering. Below her was team CRML. Megan was taking notes but at a much more leisurely pace. Fulgrim was staring down at the beauty that was their Instructor. Leman was staring at the ceiling, some times he would look over to his sister's notes but then would return his staring. Corvus was… he was really still, Ruby could tell that his eyes were open but… something in her gut told her he was somehow asleep.

Ruby then looked up to the ring of desk above her team's to team JNPR. Jaune had a absent look in his eyes, like everything being said was just going over his head. Pyrrha was taking notes but she seemed to be taking doubles for some reason. Nora was clearly doodling and Ren was also taking notes at the same speed Megan was going at.

Ruby sunk back in her chair, this still wasn't what she was expecting out of Beacon. But then she sat back up, She was at Beacon! She was becoming an Astartes, not only that but she was the leader of her team. She wasn't going to let them down. Ruby took her pencil and quickly began taking notes. But… the topic were so boring, she knew all this stuff already, So Ruby followed Nora's example and began playing in her notebook.

"Ruby." Weiss said as she nudged Ruby. "Get back to work."

"Oh lighten up Weiss, this is easy stuff that even kids know." Ruby said before going back to her doodling ignoring the grunt of annoyance from Weiss.

* * *

"Welcome to the Beacon Armory." Gebren said to the following first year Aspirants, his voice booming over the whistling of steam escaping boilers, the sounds of sparks being cast from the generators, the clanking of cogs turning. So far this new batch of students were looking to be a good crop, or at least that's how he saw them. "This is where all the fun and deadly toys are kept and maintained. Over there we have the bolters…" Gebren smiled at the Ooos and ahs that came from the kids behind him. "And over there is the safe where we keep the Grav and Plasma guns." Once again he smiled at the excited reactions. "Now don't get ahead of yourselves. Those…" When he turned around he saw one of the Aspirants literally drooling over all the machinery and forges. "Umm…" The girl was quickly brought back to her senses by who he suspected was her partner. "Anyways…"

"You need to focus you dolt, I'm not having you…" Ruby stopped listening to Weiss's scolding as she returned her attention to the wonders that was the Beacon Armory.

" _Is that a real Avenger Gatling Cannon!_ " Ruby screamed in her head as she spotted the Imperial Knight weapon hanging from the ceiling. " _And are those Power Hammers!"_ Ruby once again screamed. "This is the greatest place ever!" Ruby yelled out for real before closing her mouth with her hands. Beads of sweat started forming as she felt every eye on her.

"Well thank you, I try my best." Gebren chuckled drawing the attention away from Ruby but form the glare of her partner. "Now I'm sure many of you have your own weapons that you made during your time in the Pre-Astartes Schools or made yourself at home or attained some other way. But Astartes use many different means of battle." Gebren said as he ended the tour at four suits of armor, all set up from smallest to largest. "When you as Aspirants go out on the battlefield or in certain combat practice matches you will be wearing this." Gebren motioned to the armor with the minimal amount of protection. It was a black body suit with plain gray plates set to allow maximum movement. "When you become full Astartes, you will be able to wear the more iconic Legionary armor." Gebren motioned to the third largest suit of armor. "Or the more flexible Aspect armor, helped devolved by our Eldar allies, it may provide less protection but it it allows for the more fast paced combat that you all are probably used to." He said nodding to the second largest armor. "And when you get to the vaulted Veteran status, you can take in to battle… the Terminator Armor." Gebren Said looking up at the hulking monstrosity that was the last set of armor. "On now we move on to the tanks and speeders…"

* * *

"The earliest record we have of the Necrontyr places their civilization well before the rise of the Eldar Empire. And almost every source…" Dr. Oobleck continued his opening lecture as he zipped around only taking a few stops to take a sip of recaf from his thermos "…then about five thousand before the first Eldar city established itself on their home continent of Ulthuan, the Necrontyr simply vanished. Amazingly leaving behind only the barest…" Ruby continued to try and follow along the fast paced Instructor.

"Umm… Instructor…" Someone asked before they were quickly corrected by Dr. Oobleck who was very protective of his Doctor status. "… uh… Doctor Oobleck, if the Necrontyr died off why should we learn about them now?" Even Ruby knew that was a stupid question.

"Because my dear boy we must understand them so we may hopefully not repeat their fate. By all we know, the Necrontyr were highly advance, even beginning to reach for the stars about some accounts left over in their ruins. Their technology making us by comparison but mare cavemen. If a civilization as advanced as they were could have fallen, what's to say ours can't." Dr. Oobleck said before continuing with his lecture.

* * *

The class just stared at the sleeping Instructor, who was already asleep by the time they all had filled into the hall. The words, Kiss Ass, up on the Holo-projector. This class was suppose to be about the inner workings of the Imperial Government. The idea that all you had to do was suck up to your higher ups wasn't not expected by most of the student body but they still expected to be taught a few things by a former Ultramarine.

It was about ten minutes into the Instructor's snoring that Karma threw the largest spit ball anyone had ever seen at him. It kinda just… stuck to the Instructor's face for a bit before falling to ground. That started off a class wide competition to who could wake the man without leaving their seats. With teams working together… mostly.

"You three are not really going to go along with this circus are you?" Weiss asked her fellow teammates as they started trading ideas on what they could throw.

"Well… yeah." Yang said confused as to what was the big deal.

"Ruby, please tell me you are not going to…"

"Incoming!" Ruby yelled as she used her hood to slingshot a ball of paper to the target. Ruby fell back in her chair disappointed that all she did was get a slight groan. "Aww… did you say something Weiss?"

* * *

"Grimm, Daemons, Orks, Pirates, Traitors, and now the Tau. The enemies of Humanity are many and powerful. But to me, they are but prey… ha ah… and you shall too upon becoming full Astartes." Ruby barely was able to stay awake through the bad joke. "Know the seven Kingdoms of humanity or more commonly called the seven Hive-Cities are safe havens from an otherwise treacherous world and it is only by the strength and will of the Imperium that anywhere outside of the Hive-Cities can be safe. We face many enemies that all would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces or do other things that are not polite to say in decent company. But that is where we as the Emperor's Angels of Death come in. Astartes. The greatest Humanity has to offer. That is what this school is going to do to you. And now… a story of one of my many exploits to showcase just that fact, I remember this one Ork warboss I fought…" Ruby watched with increasing confusion as to why this man was an Instructor. Daring to have a bit of fun, Ruby began doodling a cartoon Port much to irritation of her partner sitting next to her. And not reading her partner's mood, Ruby showed Weiss and added a little fart noise effect to go along with it, causing Yang to laugh… and Weiss to get even more upset. "Ahem…" Port said drawing their attention back to him. "… In the end the Ork Warboss was no match for my sheer tenacity. And I returned to my village with its head in my hand and my own head held high. Celebrated as a hero!" Port said before taking a bow that no one felt he needed. "The moral of the story…"

" _Figure the warp out how Corvus can sleep with his eyes open_?" Leman, Fulgrim, Yang, and Jaune thought collectively.

"… A true Astartes must be honorable." Port said not noticing Ruby's continued antics. "A true Astartes must be righteous." Port continued not noticing the growing anger in one of his students. "A true Astartes must be strategic, wise, and above all else… the best of the very best! So who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

"I do!" Weiss said, her hand raised before anyone could even react to the question.

"Is that so… then come down and prove it." Port said before tapping on the data-slate that had been sitting on the desk. A cage dropped from the ceiling and inside was a massive biting Squig. Weiss was allowed to make a quick run to change into Aspirant armor and to retrieve her weapon. The lecturing floor had been cleared by the time she got back with only her and the caged Squig.

"Go Weiss!" yang shouted in support.

"Fight well." Blake did so as well.

"Yeah! Represent Team Ruby."

"Get your head bitten off!" Weiss was able to ignore Megan's normal hostilely due to her current irritation with her partner.

"Ruby, I'm trying to focus." Weiss scolded her partner.

"Oh… sorry." Ruby said sinking back into her seat.

"Ready… begin!" Port said before tapping on his data-slate to open the cage. The Squig wasted no time in going after the closest thing it could see, Weiss. The angry ball of red meat and teeth quickly cobbled over to Weiss with a speed that few in the room was expecting considering its tiny legs.

It dove forward, gaping maw opened as far as its body would allow, in attempt to live up to its name as a Biting Squig. Weiss easily side stepped to stupid creature. It skidded across the floor, jumping back onto its feet it ran once again toward the heiress.

"Go Weiss!" Ruby yelled from the sidelines.

Weiss once again side stepped the attack but this time the Squid landed on the floor and quickly went for the girl's legs. Weiss jumped over lunge and skewered the Squig on her landing. It thrashed around her blade before finally dying.

"Excellent, but one defeated Squig does not an Astartes make." Port said before tapping on his data-slate causing five more cages to drop from the ceiling. With another tap the cages opened to five more Squigs. The first two were the quickest and were upon Weiss within seconds. Slinging the dead squig off Myrtenaster into the incoming two, distracting them as well as once they had stood back up they had begun fighting each other for eating rights of the dead Squig. Weiss focused on the three left as they began circling her. Their jaws snapping at her and their ridiculously long tongues licking their faces. The furthest one from her was the first one to jump but the second she sidestepped it another one jumped up and snatched Myrtenaster from her hand. The Squig running away with the blade… and it was now using it as its very own chew toy.

"Oh ho… now you've lost your weapon, what will you do now?" Port said as Weiss looked over the battlefield. Four of the Squigs remained, one of them had been killed by another and of the four that remained, two of them were distracted. Granted one of them was distracted with her weapon but still. One of the remaining Squigs made their leap, Weiss slid under it and applied one of her Glyphs to the creature's under side, speeding it up to the point it shot towards the wall causing it to spat. Weiss ignored the cheers from her team as she ran to her weapon, grabbing the hilt and kicking the Squig off the blade before freezing the impudent thing. Three down, two to go.

The last two circled her again, they weren't so much looking for an opening but waiting for the other to make a move so that they might be able to eat it. As creatures born out of Ork spores, shortsightedness and greed are inbreed. But it was Weiss who made the next move as she jumped into the air and using her glyphs bounced over one of the Squigs and formed a anouther Glyph under the closer of the two to launch it into the other. After the two had collided Weiss ran them both through much like the first.

"Bravo! Brav-o… it appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Astartes in training. And with that, I think I will dismiss you all for the day." The Instructor said before he began calling in cleaning Servitors. Weiss didn't even look back at her team as she left the lecture hall.

"I detect trouble is brewing in RWBY town." Leman joked just before leaving earshot of said team.

"Ruby is something wrong with Weiss?" Yang asked her sister.

"I don't know… I thought she did great." Ruby said, unbale to hide the confusion on her face. "Should I go talk to her?" The looks on her teammates face was all the answer she needed. "I will go talk to her." Ruby said before running after the heiress. "Weiss!" Ruby called out as she rounded a corner to face her partner. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?! You're supposed to be our leader and yet you seem to unable to take this place seriously!"

"What did I do?"

"That's just it, in all the classes you've done nothing but goof off. What makes it all the worse is that you told me…" Weiss stopped herself before she said something that was completely forbidden. Something that all the Aspirants knew was that under no circumstances was anything said in a Brotherhood Pact to be repeated in public. After collecting herself from that close mistake Weiss continued. "It just seems like you of all people should be grateful to be her. And I know you are… but if you can't handle what it means to be leader then I think it should have gone to the person that had trained and studied for it. Ozpin made a mistake." Weiss said before leaving the defeated Ruby who was unable to find the words to counter her partner's argument.

"Hm… that didn't seem to go very well." Ruby turned around and saw the headmaster himself standing behind her.

" _How did we not notice him_?" Ruby thought before her mind returned to the gloom that Weiss had caused. "Is she right? Did you make a mistake?"

"What?! Ozpin here made a mistake?" A deep baritone voice said as it's owner walked into view from behind the corner.

"Mr. Gold?" Ruby said not really understanding why Mr. Gold was at Beacon. He was still wearing the same gold and black suit, though the design was a bit different meaning that it was a different piece. Behind Mr. Gold was a dark-skinned man with a gold and red suit with a few pieces of armor inlaid with the suit.

"Mr. Gold, I see your assistant with you for our meeting." Ozpin said before turning to the assistant. "Mr. Solis, I am happy to see you once again."

"Same here Headmaster." Ruby was a little shocked, the man's voice was a bit higher than she was expecting.

"Yes yes, enough with that. What's this about you being wrong?" Mr. Gold smirked at the idea/

"Well…" Ruby started bringing the attention to her. "… it turns out that I might not be cut out for being the leader of my team."

"What makes you say that?" Mr. Gold said honestly confused by the idea. "It's what… the first day of your classes? How could you have possibility gotten that idea so quickly?"

"Well my partner Weiss…"

"AH! A Schnee is involved. That explains everything." Mr. Gold exclaimed before sighing. "Ozpin I think you can handle this one, I've had experience with straightening Schnees out my whole life." Mr. Gold said in a huff before going to track Weiss down, his assistant right behind him.

"Well as Mr. Gold said, it's only been one day. Ruby…" Ozpin slightly looked back behind Ruby to see if Mr. Gold was out of ear shot. "… I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment I would not consider your appointment to team leader to be one of them. Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle. It is a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best then what reason do you give others to follow you?" Ozpin said before turning away to return to his duties. "You have been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to think about how you will uphold it." Ozpin said before walking away leaving Ruby to pounder his words.

* * *

Corvus stared down at his burger. It was lunch time and he was sitting with the rest of his friends. It had seemed that Ruby and Weiss had made up or something because they both had returned to much more friendlier mood to each other. That was nice for him, what was on his mind now was something he had noticed with his first bite during breakfast but now after his first bite of his lunch burger he was sure something was off.

"Hey Corvus what's wrong with your food? Did they overcook it or something?" Ruby asked as she leaned over to inspect Corvus' meal.

"No… but they put something in it." Corvus said inquisitively.

"Really…" Yang said as she grabbed his burger and took a bite out of it. "… tastes great to me." Yang said ignoring Corvus' glare for stealing his food and Weiss' glare for her bad table manners.

"I think I agree with Corvus." Blake said as she too had been noticing a slight oddity with her meals. "I can't put my finger on it but there's something in the food I can't place."

"Me too… but I don't care. Tastes too good for it to be bad." Nora added on and with Ren nodding in agreement it made four people.

"Uh! It also kinda tastes funny to me two!" Jaune yelled from the other table that he, Pyrrha and Megan were still banished to.

"Oh! I know what they tasting." Yang said as a lightbulb went off in her head. "You guys are tasting the chemicals they lace in the food that help grow ours bones. They start you off on a light version in the Pre-Astartes schools and you get used to it pretty fast."

"Father made us eat the stuff all our lives… it doesn't affect you until you gain the second Gene-Seed implant though." Fulgrim explained. "They are just getting you all ready for it." The non-pre-Astartes school teens looked back at their food like they had been betrayed.

* * *

Angron happily watched as the new batch of first years trudged through the mud field he had prepared. All of them weighed down with three bags that each weighed around fifty pound. They had been doing this for about an hour and they still weren't even close to the finish line.

"Come on maggots! You can do better than that!" Angron yelled before blowing his whistle. "This is nothing! By next semester I'll be setting off mines around you and you'll be missing the day were it just felt like I was trying to kill you." He added a nice evil chuckle to the end of that one.

"Sir?! Ruby asked as she apparently was the only person Angron had shown any favoritism despite his claim that he wouldn't. "… what does this have to do with combat training?" Ruby asked before falling flat on her face into the mud.

"Excellent question Miss Rose." She got a few glares from other Aspirants as they all were sure that if any other student that asked that would have been beaten in some painful way. "The normal means of combat that you all have shown is beat suited in assault teams. It is preferred that you learn this way of fighting early on because it takes the longest to master. However! Assault is not the only means of attack used by Astartes. On Orks, large numbers of Grimm or Beastmen, the World Eaters…" Angron spit on the ground at the mention of his most hated people. "… and many of the Dark Eldar, Assault is suicide or at the very least very stupid. That is why we have Tactical Squads AND Assault Squads. The Aspect Armor can support the means of fighting you are currently used to. The Legionary armor will not. We need to get you all ready for the sheer weight of the Legionary armor. While the Gene-Seed Implants will be invaluable to operate the armor you still need to be strong enough to wear it!" Angron explained before returning to his gaze over the Aspirants. "As a first day treat and incentive… those that complete the exercise will get out of the rest the remaining three hours. I'm sure many of you all are looking forward to a hot shower back in your rooms." Angron tried suppressing the laughter that was bubbling to the top as he watched the mad dash some of the kids were making. He sat back in his chair watching them all finish… the last one being the smallest and youngest of all the potential Astartes. Angron looked over to her waiting team as she neared the three quarters. While it was true that she might have been the fastest with her Semblance, like this morning it wasn't allowed, and her body was still years younger than what the training was meant for. "You three head to your room!" Angron barked out causing slight looks of shock from the three teens. They still left without argument.

Angron returned his focus back to the younger girl who was struggling to move with the huge weight on her. As much as he enjoyed having Summer's daughter earlier than scheduled, he knew that she was going to have a tougher time when it came to the physical training. Right now he was hoping that sicko's theory on younger the better when it came to the Gene-Seed was true as this girl was going to need the help. Then he saw her move a bit faster, and it seemed to shock her as much as it did him. He watched even closer as her pace quickened, it wasn't her Semblance but it still seemed strange. He watched her cheer in victory as she threw the weights off before dashing off the field.

* * *

Corvus dropped on to his bed more tired than he ever had been before.

"What took you so long?" Fulgrim asked as he sat next to the bathroom door, Megan was currently using it and he wanted to use it as quickly as he could after trudging through mud for two hours. Normally he would fight with his sister over who got to use it first but today he agreed she needed it.

"I stayed back to cheer Ruby on." Corvus said after lifting his head from his blanket. "Where'd Leman go?"

"Brother went to the Armory, said he needed to sharpen his swords or something. I taking it as a lie and he's really on his way to find some poor girl to mess around with."

"That furry moron is somehow a magnet to my gender." Megan growled out as she slammed the door open and hit Fulgrim in the face. Corvus buried his face once again in his bed as Megan walked to her section of the room to change out of the towel that currently covered her up.

"Isn't a stereotype that all Wulfen naturally attract the opposite sex?!" Corvus yelled out so someone hear beyond his muffed voice. "I can kinda confirm it because there was this one Wulfen girl…"

"Enough." Megan said form her maze of bookshelves. "I don't want to hear any more on the subject." Megan said as she walked out in her normal blue and gold PJs. "I just hope he doesn't get caught because I know it will somehow be blamed on us." Like the Emperor had heard them there was a knock on the door. "How many Thrones you want to bet that is the Commissar with Leman?"

"Take the bet!" They heard Commissar Flint yell from behind the door.

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes for the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter forty, The Webway_

The Webway is a mysterious concept to many in the Imperium. It is a network of magic underwater tubes that the Eldar use on a daily basis. Those that have seen the Craftworlds enter it describe it as if the sea itself comes up and swallows the ships whole. Exactly how the Eldar command this network is the subject of much debate among many circles in the Imperium. From the navy to the Tech-Priests and even the Ecclesiarchy. But the Eldar refuse to answer even the most basic of questions.

But with the advancement of submarines, the Imperium has been able to get a better idea of what the Webway is. The tubes of air seem to act as currents underwater, flowing in different ways from day to day. Every attempt to map it and even develop a pattern has proved fruitless.

The most tantalizing information the Imperium know about the Webway is that somewhere it leads to the lsot underwater city known to humanity as the Black Library. A place that holds all the knowledge of the Eldar people. But the Eldar have continued to say that this is only but a myth created by the humans and in fact there is no such place called the Black Library in the Webway.

* * *

Author's Notes

So that's a big one for you guys. I wanted to show the full first dayto give everyone some idea of what life in this new Beacon is like. It is a lot harsher than the Canon one. By the way, if anyone has any requests as to Codex entries or Alpha Legion documents I'm all ears.

Reviews

BluePanedGasMask- It will be focused more on the Astartes but they will have a part to play at some point.

Pacer287- I'm sure you are. Hehehe

Nemris- Thank you.

Darkerpaths- yeah… that's what everyone seems to think. And Thank you.

H20 Ferrum Dominus- Thank you and will do.

37- Answered in PM, and thank you for ideas.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Notes

Okay, so these next Four chapters are going to be focused entirely on character development. Each team will get their own chapter of 10k and each teammate will get roughly 2500 words. It will be in this order CRML, JNPR, Cinder's Team (if anyone wants to try and name it then go ahead, the letters are C A, M B, E S, K A, so good luck) then team RWBY. And at the end of each of these chapters will be a small scene with another character that will have some kind of WTF moment. These chapter will be taking place around the same time, this all will take place in the first three months of their first year. Everyone understand? Good.

Second, I'm sure that you've all noticed that this story is in fact a part Romance story. I'm also sure that you've picked up on the fact I have paired Ruby and Corvus. The other pairs I have planned is Yang/Blake and Jaune/Pyrrha but as for anyone else… that's up in the air for right now. I'm not doing a Magnus and Leman so don't even get that idea.

* * *

Team CRML

Leman Russ - Alpha

Leman knocked back the smaller Astartes in training.

"Come on! Is that all you got!" Leman barked out as he circled the Aspirant. The rest of the combat training class up in the stands that surrounded the small fighting arena that was used for practice fights. The smaller Aspirant got back and rushed the Wulfen, pole-vaulting over him with his spear. Unimpressed, Leman just kicked the spear causing the kid to fall to the ground. "Ya don't have the speed to pull a move off like that." Leman placed his boot on the Aspirant's neck. "Instructor! I think I've won."

Glenda sighed as she tapped on her data-slate to end the match. "Mr. Clover, try to learn that when facing a more experienced opponent, it is best to take a more cautious approach." She said as the Aspirant stumbled off to the stands to join his team. "Is there anyone else that wants to try their strength against Aspirant Russ?" A single hand raised. "Very well, the next match will be Leman Russ versus Bjporn Eldfel." Leman watched as the Aspirant walked down the stairs to the arena. His hair was a bit rugged and his face was heavily scarred but for the area around his right eye where a runic circle tattoo had been placed. His clothes were similar to Leman's in that most of it was made from furs. But what caught Leman's attention was his smell.

"You're a Wulfen too." Leman smirked, he was now going to have a real fight.

"Aye, what's it to you pup?" That made Leman's smirk disappear. The other Wulfen stood above Leman, his eyes confident as he readied his weapon. A pair of clawed shotgun knuckles, similar to Yang's gantlets though designed more for pricing than blunt trauma.

Up in the stands teams CRML, RWBY, and JNPR all watched the two Wulfen stare each other down, both making a few sounds that confused and scared a few of those watching.

"Um… Megan… what is Leman doing?" Yang asked as she turned to her friend's teammate and sister.

"Those two are Wulfen, and they're boys. They're trying to intimidate the other into submitting the other is the Alpha." Megan explained. "If they were just boys then I would say that they were being morons who should lay them out and measure." Megan said causing Ruby to put that on the list of things Megan has said that she would ask Yang what they meant. "But since their Wulfen… it's different. They need to establish who's the Alpha in the group." They all looked back as the fight started, and not good for Leman. They all saw him standing back with Bjorn's claws trying to dig their way through Leman's swords. It was only by his heightened senses that Leman was able to dodge the shotgun round fired by Bjorn's weapon, Leman ducked under the blast and slid under the larger Wulfen, moving fast enough to miss Bjorn stabbing the ground.

Leman jumped behind Bjorn, taking a few slashes at his opponent. Bjorn's Aura dropped a bit but not nearly as much as Leman was expecting. Bjorn hit back with elbow to Leman's face sending Leman flying back a few feet. Leman spat out a bit of blood that had pooled in his mouth before standing back up.

"That itch you called an attack will be that last time you hit me, pup." Bjorn growled out as he walked toward Leman. Leman responded with combining his two swords into his great sword, after a few clicks and the sound of the swords locking into place he readied himself. While he lost a bit of mobility and flexibility with this tactic, he needed the extra hitting power it had to do any real damage to Bjorn's Aura. Leman rushed forward, his larger sword scraping the ground as he ran to increase to momentum of hi swing. But to Leman's surprise and everyone's else, hi swing didn't damage Bjorn's aura. The smaller Wulfen look up in shock to see a plate of metal covering the spot on Bjorn's side he had hit. "Told you, last time you hit me." Bjorn chuckled before hitting Leman down into the ground sending Leman's Aura down into the red in one blow. Everyone looked on in shock that the number one fighter in the class had been beaten in one move.

"And with that Bjorn Eldfel has won the match. Mr. Russ, I hope you have learned the same lesson as Mr. Clover did." Instructor Goodwitch said as Leman grumbled back to the stands. "Would anyone like to face Aspirant Eldfel?" There was no one that raised their hand. "Very well, Aspirant Eldfel you can return to your seat. Aspirant Arc, Aspirant Winchester you two are next." Team JNPR watched as their leader walked down to his match and then watched Leman walk past them to his team. No one really could say anything to the beaten Wulfen.

The next day at breakfast, no one had the courage to ask what was going on with Leman. And his apparent servitude to Bjorn.

"Are we really going to sit back and let him treat Leman like that?" Yang asked the group of friends as they watched Leman continued to do sevreal menial tasks for Bjorn, including giving him a foot rub.

"As much as I despise what is happening to the furry moron, we can't help it." Megan said putting down her newspaper. "Wulfen naturally submit to their established Alpha. Even Leman hates it but he can't do anything about it."

"There has to be something we can do?" Ruby asked as she watched Leman deliver Bjorn's weapons freshly spit shinned.

"The only way we're getting Leman back is if he beats Bjorn in a fight." Fulgrim looked away from the group and back to the Commissar who was watching the events unfold with a watchful eye.

"… I think we should just let the Commissar handle this." Weiss argued as she had followed Fulgrim's eyes and saw that the Commissar had noticed what was going on.

"Why?" Yang asked. "If all it takes is Leman beating that smug bastard, then let's help him get strong enough to do it!"

"It's not that simple." Surprising everyone it was Blake that took the turn to speak. "If Leman loses a second time to Bjorn then Bjorn will kill him. It's the rule that all Wulfen live by."

"She's right." Megan said with her eye trained on Blake, as she was curious on how Blake knew that. "The first fight is to establish who's on top and if the Beta challenges the Alpha it's seen as a threat to the Alpha's dominance. To the Alpha, this action is unforgivable and the only way to restore order to the pack is the death of the upstart. While Leman and Bjorn are the only Wulfen in our class, and such making an example out of Leman would be pointless… there's a good chance Bjorn would kill him just on principle."

"Which is why I say let the Commissar handle it." Weiss grunted. "It looks like Bjorn is taking his position way too far and sooner or later the Commissar will step in."

"Just because the Commissar steps in doesn't mean that the Alpha Beta bound will change." Blake countered.

"This is their mutant problems. Leman should just stand up to Bjorn and ask us for help for when Bjorn succumbs to his bestial nature." Fulgrim said before stand up from the table and walking out of the Great Hall.

"Well that was rude." Pyrrha said what most of them were thinking.

"Fulgrim just has… issues with Abhumans. But Fulgrim aside. What he said has a grain of wisdom." Megan said leaning forward, thinking on what Fulgrim said. "Leman needs help, and we can be the pack he needs to stand up to Bjorn."

That night Leman came back to his Team's room to find it completely dark even though he was quite late as he had more work for his Alpha that kept him out a little longer than his teammates. Before he was able to turn the lights on he was ambushed and strapped down to a chair and a light was shinned in his face.

"Leman Russ. You will answer this questions truthfully and hostelry or by the grace of the God-Emperor we will…"

"Weiss, your Night Lord impression stinks." Leman growled out causing his interrogator to scoff and lower the light. He could smell his team, team RWBY and JNPR in the room. He also knew what this was about. "Guys… I know ya want to help. But I lost… and now I know he's the stronger Wulfen."

"So what?" He heard Corvus mutter to himself and could hear Yang and Nora say something similar.

"And that's what we're here for." He heard Megan say of all people. "You might be a furry moron…" That's better. "… but no one but your family is allowed to treat you like doormat. That brute is not family. So you are going let us be your pack and tonight we're going get you ready for a rematch because I know that you can win." Leman sighed at his sister's declaration.

"You aren't going to let this go are you?"

"Not at all."

The next four days were spent training after dinner Leman in everything the three teams knew about Bjorn's fight style. In the end when they complied notes they had a pretty good idea. He relied on his Semblance that allowed him to grow plates of metal over his body. He relied on this to protect him from taking any real damaged. But as for fighting, Bjorn kept to letting his enemy tire themselves out trying to hurt him and then finished them off with a few moves but only if he didn't end the match with the first strike.

The Teams figured out that Leman was fast enough to avoid that first attack, he just needed to get past Bjorn's Semblance. It was only when Ren fought Bjorn that they figured out that Bjorn's Semblance could only cover one part of his body at a time.

"All right you maggots! Today is open challenge day!" Angron yelled out to the first year Aspirants. "So does anyone have any…"

"I challenge Bjorn Eldfel!" Everyone turned back to Leman as he walked down to the arena. The face Bjorn had was less than happy at the challenge.

"Very well… Bjorn! Get your ass up here, Leman… I'll see you in Bile's morgue." Angron chuckled as he made room for the two opponents.

"You shouldn't have done this pup. Now I have to kill you." Bjorn growled out, his face filled with rage.

"Not happening brute." Leman spat back. At the sound of the starting gun Leman ducked under the first clawed fist that came for him. His right sword unclipped and reveled the shotgun that hid in the hilt and jammed it under Bjorn's jaw while doing the same with his left sword to Bjorn's gut. In the end, Bjorn chose to save his gut as when he stumbled back he was holding his jaw. "I'm winning this and you're going to be my Beta." Bjorn continued to block and dodge Leman's next series of assaults all the while having his Aura chipped away. Bjorn blocked the last strike, his claws interlocking with Leman's swords. Both Wulfen growling out their aggression over the shirking of the metal scraping against each other. With one last move Bjorn, parried Leman's sword out of his hand, taking a unarmored hit from Leman's other sword.

"That's enough of that, time to put you in your place."

"I think it's a little too late for that." Leman smirked as he pointed to the score board and to Bjorn's horror he saw his Aura had dipped down into the red from that last attack. Leman looked back the cheering crowd of his friends in the stands before they wen t silent at the gunshot from Angron.

"Settle down! Leman, you win… and Bjorn… good luck being my brother's bitch for the rest of your life." Angron chuckled as he turned back to the stands to hear out any other challenges.

"So… ya goin' to act like some pup about bein' my Beta?" Leman asked as he approached Bjorn.

"Nah… you didn't. It would be a bitch move to do that when you didn't. You won fair and square." Bjorn said as he took Leman's hand.

* * *

Fulgrim – The Sound of the Heart

"This is boring." Corvus complained before having his head turned back to his book by his partner.

"This is study hall and we have test in three days." Megan groaned as she pushed her partner's face deep into the book. "I'm not having you fail and make me look bad."

"Megan dear, Corvus will do fine. You need to not worry so." Fulgrim said as he read his own book. "We all know who it is that needs to study." They all looked at Leman struggling to read a picture book.

"What?" Leman asked looking up. "… What?!"

"Shhh!" Leman's team said causing him to grumble back into his picture book. Fulgrim went back to his reading, he continued to ignore his teammates arguing as his mind was far from the threat of a low-test score. Fulgrim was too deep in thought on the current tome that was in his hands. It was a story detailing the story of two Astartes who had fallen in love but join different Legions. They said that they would continue their love despite the challenge.

Fulgrim had been growing worried over the last few chapters. It seemed like someone was threating the bond the two shared. The book had yet to reveal who was driving a wedge between the two lovers. Was it the Primarch? Or maybe it was the Champlain, he always seemed so against the idea of romance in the ranks period, but the twist that he himself was involved was an idea Fulgrim would applaud.

"No! How could she?!" Fulgrim yelled out drawing the attention of everyone in the Librarium. He quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment.

"Fulgrim… everything okay?" Corvus asked with an eyebrow raised. Megan quickly snatched up the book Fulgrim had been reading and scanned the last few pages before throwing the book on to the pile behind her.

"Fulgrim… get back to studying." She said handing a text book to her brother. Fulgrim took the book and joined his team in studying trying to move past his out burst. He tried to focus on the material but all he could think about was… was… the horrible betrayal he had suffered.

How dare she leave him for some filthy Faunus. How could she not see that he didn't love her but was just after her position in the legion. It was just like the freaks to ruin the love that two proper humans had for each other.

"Freaks the lot of them…" Fulgrim grumbled as he hands shock with rage. This had been one of the best stories he had found in the Librarium and now it was ruined. Even through dinner he continued his grumbling much to the confusion and worry his friends.

"Um… Fulgrim… everything okay?" Ruby asked, repeating Corvus' level of concern.

"He's fine." Megan answered as she took her food from the floating Servo-Skull. "He just got to the end of chapter thirteen of _Love and True Faith_."

"Really? I read that one and I thought the idea that Letane had fallen out of love with Mydaiel and then fallen for…" Blake started as the story was one of her favorites.

"She did not! She was tricked by the freak somehow." Fulgrim countered a bit loader than he meant to be. "I am going to go back to the Librarium. I'm sure that Letane will come to her senses and kill the beast that dare cloud her mind." Fulgrim said before storming out of the Great Hall to do just that. Everyone but the Gold Family members looked a bit shocked. Even Weiss felt that was a bit out of line.

"What is his problem? That's the second time this month he's talked like that and stormed off." Blake said still glaring at the last spot Fulgrim had been seen.

"You'd have issues with Abhumans and mutants if you've been through what he's lived through." Leman said before taking another bite off his stake.

"Well he seems to be a bit extreme. I have problems with Abhumans but Fulgrim just seems outright hostile." Weiss commented.

"You right, Fulgrim thinks Abhumans and mutants should be all hunted down and killed." Leman chuckled, he had long ago worked out his brother's issues towards the non-baseline Humans.

"How can you be so cheery about your brother's unneeded hate, you're a Abhuman." Blake just couldn't understand how Leman could act the way he did when Fulgrim continued to discriminate and hate Abhumans like him.

"When you've seen ya own family get their head chopped off in front of you, ya get to be a bit bitter." That made everyone quiet. "None of the Gold family have lead soft lives. Fulgrim was found by our father after a Beastmen raid killed all but three of his hometown. He hid while watchin' the Beastmen killed and desecrated. It was a miracle of the God-Emperor that he wasn't found."

"But…" Blake tried to find the right words. "… the wild Beastmen aren't the rest of the Abhumans, even most Mutants aren't the enemy."

"Doesn't matter to him…" Megan said as she wrote something on an order sip before tacking it on to a Servo-Skull. "… you know what he needs right?" Megan said to her brother.

"Yeah, damn moody pretty boy needs to…" Leman continued to grumble but stopped when the Servo-Skull returned with a loaf of bread and Leman grabbed it out of the tray and followed Fulgrim out of the Great Hall. The rest of the Aspirants just looked at Megan in confusion.

"Fulgrim's mother used to bake bread as a means of making a bit of extra money. Bread reminds him of her and calms him down."

Leman grumbled all the way down to the Librarium. He personally did not give two shits if Fulgrim held negative views on Abhumans like him or Blake. He did think the girl was doing herself no favors hiding but it wasn't his problem like Fulgrim's tantrums were. He found Fulgrim huddled up against a pile of books reading the same book that had caused this mess. Leman sighed, Fulgrim was whipping himself up into a frenzy. Leman and Megan both knew that his hatred for non-baseline humans was simply the trigger for this current rant and brooding. Despite recent evidence, Fulgrim had his hatred and bias well under control thanks to their father constantly trying to help Fulgrim with his issue as he did with all of his children.

Fulgrim only looked up from his reading once Leman dropped the loaf of bread in his lap. He stared at the calming symbol of the parts of his happier childhood before looking up to his partner.

"You and I both know ya ain't mad at the damn book." Leman said as he stared down his brother. While completely not in the mood to deal with Fulgrim's hang ups, as his brother and partner it was his duty to help.

"Yes I am… how could she… to leave him for that freak." Fulgrim retorted looking away from Leman.

"Fulgrim… tell me what got you so pissy or I'm telling Instructor Taldeer about the poem you wrote for her."

"You wouldn't… you would... fine. I'm mad because… well… it's been two months since the start of our time here at Beacon and I have yet to engage in a school romance… ow!" The second the words _School R_ omance left Fulgrim's mouth Leman's fist slammed down on his brother's head.

"That's why your so damn moody! Because you haven't found a girl to…" Leman was topped before he could continue his sentence by a Servo-Skull appearing and issuing him a warning due to the loudness of his tone. "Stupid flying snitches… anyways. I can't believe it, and the nerd says I'm childish."

"Well it's so easy for you. You're a Wulfen, for some reason girls are attracted to your brand of freak musk." Leman's face turned to a smug smile as he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah… the ladies can't get enough of the real primal animal that is your brother. Wait… are you jealous of me?"

"Never! I could never be jealous of a freak like you… but… it would be nice to be able to get a date as quickly as you can get then." Leman just stared at Fulgrim with a slight unreadable expression on his face.

"So, ya want a date then? Well why didn't you say so, this could have been so much simpler then." Leman said sitting down across from Fulgrim. "You got anyone in mind?" Fulgrim eyed his brother with a suspicious glance before feeling a bit more comfortable at the assurance of Leman's helpful intentions by the child like smile that was plastered on his face.

"I had thought about Blake…"

" _Hahahahahahahaha!_ " Leman internally laughed. The idea of Fulgrim asking out a Faunus was funny enough but the idea of them actually going out was too much. Leman however was able to hold his poker face.

"… But I know better. To think she's a sympathizer of the freaks. Dodged a bolt there." Leman kept trying to keep his face the same as before but it was getting hard. "So now… I can't say it I'm too embarrassed as it is." That sobered up Leman good. He had momentarily forgotten how girlish Fulgrim could get.

"Say it! I can't help you if you don't tell me."

"Oh fine… its Leica." Leman thought back to roll call during classes. He vaguely remembered a girl with short silver hair and a rather stern expression on her face. "Ah Leica, truly her beauty is that of an eternal goddess." Fulgrim said commenting on the memory of her he was having alongside Leman but his flushed face was drained of all color at the sight of Leman's smirk... it was different now. A second later Leman was running out of the Librarium and to the Great Hall with Fulgrim running after him, yelling threats and promises to sevreal things that most people would think would be impossible from one male to do to another. The two burst through the opened doors of the Great Hall, drawing the eyes of a few but they weren't loud enough to bring down the attention of the staff. Leman ended up skidding down to the rest of their friends, his face planted into the floor by Fulgrim's hand as the platinum blond boy sat on Leman's back preventing the Wulfen from standing up.

"I see you two have returned, Fulgrim… have you gotten that anger out of your system?" Megan asked as if what happening was perfectly normal.

"Yes, all better. Sorry everyone for exploding the way I did." From the way he said it no one really believed he meant it but were willing to accept it to varying degrees given what they learned. Leman began bucking Fulgrim off after that, the brothers continued to fight for dominance but in the end it was Leman who came out on top.

"Hey guys, Fulgrim is lonely and wants someone to love and that's he's bene so damn moody." Leman laughed as Fulgrim struggled to stop him but went limp once Leman finished speaking. Fulgrim could feel the eyes of his friends staring at him.

"He's not going about it in the most productive way." Corvus said breaking the awkward salience.

"Oh you've got that right. Despite the way he acts, Fulgrim is such a shy boy." Leman teased as he stood up though Fulgrim did not follow him. "Do any of you know Leica?"

"You don't?" Megan asked, she knew the girl. While Megan, Weiss and that boy Karma all competed for the top spot in the class grades Leica held consistently the number four spot.

"Why should I?" Leman asked genuinely confused.

"She's on the same team as your new best bud Bjorn." Yang answered pointing over to Bjorn who was sitting with his team and sure enough one of them was the girl Fulgrim had named as his crush.

"Oh… this just because a warp of a lot easier." Leman said as he started dragging Fulgrim toward the other table before stopping at the tug at his collar from Megan.

"Wait you furry moron, what exactly is your plan?"

"I go over there and have Bjorn introduce us to her and Fulgrim will do his normal gooey romantic crap he does with every other girl." Leman said honestly not understand the problem. Every girl at the table sighed at Leman's stupidity.

"And does that ever work?" Megan giving voice to the collective annoyance of the female population at the table. It took a few seconds for Leman to think it over.

"Oh… now I get why he's still a…" Leman couldn't finish his sentence as Fulgrim stopped him with a punch to his bits, sending Leman down to ground in pain.

"So what your telling me is that my normal approach is not well received?" Fulgrim asked a little saddened by the information.

"Megan's not saying it's a bad one but one that feels… a bit forced and a little… oh what's the word…" Pyrrha said before Nora answered.

"Cheesy!"

"Yes, thank you Nora." Megan nodded to the hyperactive girl. "Fulgrim, as your sister I feel it is long over due for me to help you have a better understanding of the female mind." That night Megan and the rest of Fulgrim's female friends began educating him in a better approach to getting the attention of Leica and convincing her to go a date with him. The rest of the boys, minus Ren who knew exactly how they would be received, were promptly kicked out.

The next day they all they all watched from afar as inconspicuous as they could as Fulgrim walked over to his crush to ask her out.

"What do you think is going to happen?" Ruby asked as she tried to avoid looking like she was spying on the whole thing.

"She has to say yes, we gave him everything he needed." Yang said as she did the same as her sister.

"We will all know the answer soon enough." Megan said as she watched as Fulgrim walked away from the table where Lecia sat at. They all tried to look like they were focused on their meal as Fulgrim walked up to all of them.

"She turned me down." Fulgrim said this but his smile was detached form his words.

"Then why are smiling?" Yang asked.

"Because this was good for me. I now know that things won't happen like they do in books. I think I will try again and hopefully the next girl will say yes." Fulgrim said before walking off to return to his team's room, not in the mood to eat at the moment. They all watched as he left then turned to the spot Corvus normally sat.

"Don't worry… I have the details." Corvus said as he appeared in his spot. "In retrospect, we should have known this was doomed to fail. She is on a team with a Wulfen after all."

* * *

Megan – Homes

Megan walked down the sidewalk of one of the many streets of the Hive City of Vale. People walked by, some offered coagulations on her becoming an Aspirant as she was wearing the Beacon logo on her winter coat.

Beacon had given the student body the next three days off as the Imperium was celebrating the national holiday of the Vytal festival. A tournament that the graduating classes of Aspirants take part in ever year. This year Altus was not taking part as their class was just starting and so did not have finished Gene-seed, next year Mistrial would abstain during the spring and Vacuo during the summery in two years and finally Vale in four.

"Are we there yet?" Corvus asked as he followed Megan through the snow.

"Not yet, just enjoy the fresh air." As Corvus had no family or anywhere to go during the break, Megan offered to let him stay with her in the Vale Mansion of the Gold family. Leman wasn't coming as he was going to hop form bar to bar. Fulgrim was staying behind to help with the decorating of the Grand Hall for the upcoming holidays.

Team RWBY were spending the time in Ruby and Yang's home minus Weiss as her family all but demanded to have her for the festival leaving Ruby, Yang and Blake to themselves. Team JNPR was spending the break at Jaune's home as his mother would never let him hear the end of it if he didn't invite his team.

The walk to the Vale Gold compound took about two hours of walking through the city once they had been dropped off by Valkyrie. And another fifteen minutes' ride by car from the edge of the compound.

"Wow… what the fuck does your father do to be able to afford this." Corvus said as he pressed his face against the window to see as much as he could of the sprawling winter wonderland that was the Gold Family's Vale home.

"The Gold family has been one if not the wealthiest family in the Imperium, it was them who the Emperor entrusted the secrets of making the Gene-Seed. The Imperium for many years paid outlandish amounts of money to the Gold Family and they used that wealth and bought property in all the kingdoms. Not only does the Gold Family make a killing form the government for their services to the Astartes but they own more property than any other company or organization in the Imperium. Not only that but they get money from the Ecclesiarchy for helping in the creation in the Emperor's Angels of Death." Megan finished as the car pulled up to the main house.

Corvus looked on the gothic architecture with awe. The whole building was just short of Beacon in size by about a fifth but it seemed that whoever built it put far more detail in the smaller building.

"Miss Prospero!" Corvus heard the slightly musical deep voice announce as a the owner came trotting out of the main doors. He was a very well built man with long black hair and chiseled features. But what caught Corvus' eye was the fact his suit seemed to be hastily put on and not fitted properly. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Because I wanted to catch you three doing something you should be…" Megan looked over the man carefully. "You and the other two have been dipping in the indoor pool again haven't you?"

"Well yes but your father said…"

"He told you three to keep your clothes on. Why he keeps you all as our staff I will never know. I swear I have enough mental scarring from living with you to rival… never mind." Megan sighed as she caught herself. "Just get my luggage and bring it to my room. And prepare one of the guest suites for my partner." The man turned to Corvus, eyeing him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable.

"So you're the outsider our master is positively thrilled to have partnered with his little bookworm. I must say Megan, he is fine indeed." Everything the man said made Corvus feel even more uncomfortable. It wasn't that he felt the man was threating in any but… he just gave Corvus the creeps.

"Stop. Just get back to work and get the other two back to work." Megan said before pushing Corvus inside. Inside was just as grand as out, Corvus couldn't believe how tall the ceilings were. "So your suite is down the hall and the a right and then the first door on your left…" Megan stopped talking when she noticed that could tell where Corvus was. "Hah… well off to the pool to catch those striper morons." Megan sighed as she started off toward the indoor pool. The walk through the place that had been her, Leman's, and Fulgrim's home for most of their life was refreshing. They all had grown over the years to call this place home even though it had not been their first.

She still remembered the happier times back with her birth parents in Altus, but they had been muddled and dirtied by the events that took place between her homes. One of the better and clearer ones was the time her father and mother taught her how swim. It was summer in Altus but it was still too cold for any bodies of water to not be frozen over. But then one day a water main broke and the whole house flooded, the temperature inside had kept the water from freezing. Taking the opportunity, her parents used it as a chance to give Megan her first swimming lessons. This was a nice memory that had not been corrupted by the pain and suffering she endured, something she still thanks the God-Emperor daily for.

Megan finished her thoughts as she opened the door to the indoor pool area. Her eye twitched at the sight before her. the other two members of the Vale staff we currently in the pool with nothing but the bare amount of clothing covering them.

"You two get dressed this instant! And get back to work." Megan ordered the flustered butlers who promptly got out as quickly as they could. "Argh… I swear… Mr. Solis is the only one my father employs that has half a brain." Megan sighed before looking over the large pool that the mansion held. It was custom built by her father for Megan, Leman, Fulgrim, and their descend sister. After a quick look around for anyone left she then needed to check for one last person. "Corvus are you here?"

"How'd you know?" Corvus appeared, alrighty in a newly bought black and white swimsuit. "What? I've never had the chance to enjoy a pool like this." He chuckled before running off, cannonballing into the water with a roar of joy. Megan held back the need to laugh at her partner. She knew her jail bird partner had very few comforts and so he should be able to enjoy them now. "Come on in the water's fine!" Megan looked down at her partner with slight amusement.

"Fine… I guess its been a while and we aren't likely to get a vacation for a while." Megan said before walking off to the small locker room to change. When she returned she was wearing her normal blue and gold swimsuit, her crimson hair pulled back into a tight bun. Corvus swam back a bit to make room for her which was not hard given the size of the pool. Megan gracefully dived into the pool, returning to the surface to the applause of her partner.

"Damn, that was good."

"Hey… I've got an idea. Can you use your Semblance on us? I want to see how long it takes for those three to come in here not see us and get in." Megan said with devilish grin on her face.

"Sure.' Corvus said, chuckling along with Megan as his Semblance fell over them. The continued to swim, something Megan noticed was that with Corvus' Semblance on them they didn't make any waves in the water. They were about to give up on their trap when about two hours into their swimming the door to the room opened. The first butler Corvus met stuck his head in the door and then another creepy smile came over his face as he led the other two into the room.

"Oh goodie, the kiddies are nowhere in sight." One of them said as he began to undress.

"I can't believe that little tramp ruined our fun so rudely." The other said as he two began to undress. Corvus could feel a sharp rise in anger from his partner.

"I know, that cyclops really needs to learn her place." The led creep said as he followed the actions of his counterparts. Corvus was getting really worried now. Something he learned soon during his time at Beacon was that you never mention Megan's lack of a second eye. Cardin had made that mistake once… and the entire school that was a taboo subject in the extreme.

"Um… Megan… are doing okay?" Corvus had momently forgotten that they could see or hear each other with his Semblance turned on. Corvus turned back to the three half naked men when he heard a loud thud and then a few screams. He saw Megan standing over the three creepsters with each of them slammed on the ground with a huge pillar of Frost Dust on their backs. "Oh that's not good.

"Ah! It's so cold!"

"It's freezing to my supple skin!"

"Miss. Prospero, please cease this torment at once!" Megan just glared before snapping her fingers causing the Dust to shatter.

"Very well… if you don't want the quick and painful punishment. Then let's go with long and drawn out. Corvus!" Megan yelled and Corvus went to her side as quick as he could.

"Yes?!"

"Please put your Semblance on all three of them. I want to see if they like being completely invisible to each other." Megan said enjoying the looks of horror the three had on their face.

"But three people and I'll throw up… okay yes I'll do it." Corvus once again backtracked at the sight of Megan looking back at him, her face saying _Don't question me_. The three butlers looked to each other and to their terror they couldn't see each other. Megan couldn't hear the panic that she knew would be happening but if it was anything close to what she was picturing in her head then she felt everything was right with the world again. Her happy thoughts of revenge were interrupted by the sound of her partner throwing up in a nearby trash can.

"Don't worry Corvus, I'm sure we have something for your stomach!" Megan yelled to her partner who just flipped her off. She chuckled at her partner's gesture before returning to the spots the three creeps were at. She knew them very well and knew that hadn't left the room. In all likelihood they were standing as close as they could to her, and getting frustrated at the fact that they weren't allowed to touch her by her father's orders. "I know you three are still here, so I'm going to say this once. I still expect you all to keep doing your jobs This is a punishment for calling me… that." Megan said before walking over to her partner.

Megan helped her partner back to his room where he continued to remain sick for a few hours and even after that still looked paler than he normally did.

"Feeling any better?" Megan said in the most innocent voice she could make =. She knew she was the cause of her current suffering.

"No… I told you that I throw up when its three people." Corvus said as he slumped back into one of the chairs in the room. "What is wrong with those three anyways?"

"I don't know, father said they weren't always like that. That they were some of his best staff but then one day something happened and now they're… like that." Megan said as she sat net to them. "But you get used to their antics. It did make for a very interesting childhood." Things grew a little quiet after that last remark. "Sorry I didn't mean to bring the mood down."

"From me being sick? Anyways, we're supposed to be partners, if you can't talk about stuff lie this then who else are you supposed to?"

"You have a point." Megan sighed. "When I first came here… I thought I finally died and went to Holy Terra. That the God-Emperor finally heard my daily prayers to just let it all end. And I guess in a way he did… just not in the way I thought I wanted. And then I…" Megan stopped when Corvus threw up into the side bucket he had next to him.

"Sorry… go on." Corvus half groaned.

"I was the third of my generation of the Gold Family to arrive. After Fulgrim and my sister who passed away. I was so happy to finally had another family, not only that but one that every single one understood in some way or form what I went through. Then the furry moron came."

"I take it you two didn't have the best of first impressions?"

"He first showed up with father with nothing but a small pelt over his body, his hair was wild and a twig in it. He was a mess. And what did I get for trying to help him get cleaned up. He bit me!" Megan expected to see some reaction to the fact that she had just said a Wulfen bit her but there was none.

"What? I know that its just an wives tale that Wulfen spread through biting other people."

"Well after that I just avoided him. It had been our brother Lion that finally got him to take a much-needed bath. And then it was Fulgrim that was able groom the furry beast. I then tried to contribute by helping Leman in teaching him the basics. Gothic, mathematics, history… but in the end he didn't want any of it. The only reason he's even able to speak to the rest of us is because we all had to chain him down and force feed him Gothic. I suppose he's gotten better but not by much."

"But why this whole fixation you two seem to have for each other. Could it be that…"

"You say what I think your going to say and I will kill that Grimm of yours."

"Fine… just saying.'

"But no its not **anything** like that. I guess I just found his attitude to the Gold family unthinkable. To me this was a dream come true and to him, he resisted it for so long. I guess I found him to be ungrateful and I just couldn't stand it. And that mutual distrust and animosity turned into the pseudo rivalry we have now. Its far more friendly than it used to be thankfully." At that, the sound of the great grandfather cloak that rested in the grand dining hall rang indicating it was seven and time for dinner.

"Agr… food. Do I have to eat?" Corvus groaned knowing that was just going to come back up.

"You don't have to eat but you should still attend." Megan said getting up.

* * *

Corvus – Flight of Friends

Corvus lay back on the operating table. It was time for the next implantation of the Astartes Gene-Seed. Corvus was currently as naked as the day was born and strapped down to the table. As leaders of teams went first he didn't have to worry about getting nervous from anyone telling him about the incoming pain. He knew it was coming as these operations required the Aspirants to be fully awake during them. Corvus' eyes moved to the sound of the doors opening and the grumbling of Apothecary Bile.

"Damn boy, good set of lungs on him but to use them on something as useless as screaming in pain. Kids these days." Fabius continued his grumbling as he walked over to his work bench. "At least he survived, only three deaths so far… good." Fabius then turned back to Corvus before returning his attention to his own thoughts. "Today you will be receiving the Ossmodula, which means that following this procedure the chemicals laced into your food will began their intended purpose in strengthening your skeletal system." The Apothecary said as he walked over to Corvus, he then took a few quick scans then returned to his overall examination of Corvus. "It would seem that your Secondary Heart is adapting quite well to your body. Good… lets see if the next implant does the same." Bile said as he made the first cut. Corvus grit his teeth on the rope that currently gaged him, he would not scream, he would not give the sicko that satisfaction. Three hours later Corvus was returned to his room on a stretcher carried by two servitors. "Russ! You are next." Fabius said not looking up from his data-slate before walking back to his lab with Leman in tow.

"Damn bastard… I think he made it longer just to see how much it would take to get me to scream." Corvus groaned as he turned over in his bed.

"Well at least you made it through it. I heard that two people have already died during their operations." Fulgrim said from his corner of the room. They were all nervous, this wasn't a test that they could prepare for or an enemy they could kill. It simply was a matter of their will to survive and how much pain they could endure.

"You can make that three, I heard him mention three others had already died." Corvus informed as he struggled to sit up.

"Three already, and it's only the first of nineteen implants." Megan said from the small ring of chairs that made up the small neutral area in the middle of the room.

"Hey guys… where's Deliverance?" Corvus asked after noticing that his Grimm pet bird was not in its normal cage. The two other teens turned to the cage and shrugged when they also noticed that Deliverance was missing.

"Maybe it finally figured out how to open the latch?" Fulgrim purposed.

"Does it really matter? I mean it's a Grimm. If it got out of the room it likely was killed by the automatic defenses Beacon has." Megan said not looking up from her book.

"No that can't happen. I made sure that Ozpin put in Deliverance into the system. Beacon's automated defenses don't register Deliverance as a threat."

"Well then maybe someone saw a Grimm in the sky and shot it out of the sky. This is a school for future Astartes and Grimm are our natural enemy." Megan retorted. Not being one that liked the presence of the Grimm in the first place she wasn't that sympathetic. She looked back up at the sound of Corvus getting out of bed. "What are you doing?"

"Going to find Deliverance." Corvus said as he stumbled towards the window.

"Why, you're not in any condition to go looking for something that can fly. Plus, if the Grimm hasn't been shot out of the sky then it will return at some point. You are the one who feeds the damn thing."

"Why? Because it's my friend."

"You're walking on thin ice just having it." Megan said standing up. "If you and say something like that then if the wrong person heard that… the Commissar would be in here ready to put a bolt in your head." There was a silence after that as Megan and Fulgrim's eyes were trained on their leader.

"I don't care, that Grimm was the first thing to stand by me when no one else did." Corvus said before jumping out the window to start climbing around the walls of Beacon in search of his friend.

"Did the apothecary mess with his head while putting in the Gene-Seed?!" Megan shouted as she returned to her chair.

"And just what are you doing sister?" Fulgrim asked.

"I'm going to wait for him to return back after not finding the Grimm likely because someone has already killed it."

"You don't think we should help him?"

"Help him find a Grimm? Are you serious?" Fulgrim just looked back at his sister before getting off his own bed and walking to the door out of the room. "Hey, we're not supposed to leave until we've had our operation."

"We have about two to three hours until Leman is done. I'm going to use that time to help Corvus. As his partner, I think you should be the first one to do the same." He said before leaving the room. Megan sighed, she knew Fulgrim was right.

"Let's get some more help then." Megan said as she followed Fulgrim out and began dragging him to their friend's rooms. "You get team JNPR, I'll get the girls." Megan said before turning to Team RWBY's door. " _Please don't be the Schnee that answers the door._ " But to Megan relief it was Ruby who answered the door.

"Oh Megan, I don't think your supposed to leave…" Ruby trailed on but Megan had already entered the room.

"Yes I know, but apparently this is an emergency." Megan said as she scanned for Weiss and to her glee to find the girl not in the room, and she was likely in a great deal of pain. "Corvus' is currently outside looking for his escaped Grimm Deliverance, personally I think it is long dead but he thinks otherwise. So in attempt to hurry this mess along I'm hoping that you might be abe to help look for it." Megan asked the three present members of team RWBY.

"Of course we'll help!" Ruby declared but the small sounds of slight disagreement coming form the other side of the room undercut it. "Please Yang!" Ruby said as she sped over to Yang's bunk. "Deliverance is the closest thing to a friend Corvus had before he came to Beacon. That Grimm means a lot to him.' Ruby said with the best puppy dog face she could muster, knowing that Yang could never say no to it.

"Fine!" Yang said throwing her hands up. "You win, I'll help find the Grimm." With a smile Ruby turned down to Blake who just stared back before nodding in agreement.

"Yay! Operation Find Deliverance is a go!" Ruby said before blowing a whistle and zooming out of the room.

"Wouldn't it be better if we coordinated our search efforts." Blake said as she got off her bed.

"You would think so..." Megan chuckled slightly. "Anyways, Corvus is already looking outside the castle walls. That good because if he is able to spot the Grimm it will likely come to him rather than the rest of us who might need to trap it. So, while he works outside we will work on finding it on the inside." Megan said before walking out of the room to begin searching.

The group of friends quickly began combing the castle of the places they might find the Nevermore. Megan and Blake mostly kept to the areas with high ceilings. While Yang and Ren looked in the darker places that a Grimm might be attracted to. And Jaune, Fulgrim and Nora searched everywhere else inside Beacon.

Ruby spent her search time outside the school, looking through the trees that decorated the courtyards while keeping an eye on the exterior of the school. Every now and then she would see Corvus pop his head over a roof or around a corner signaling to her that he had yet to find his pet.

They all had to return to their dorms about two hours into searching as to be present for Apothecary Bile to collect the next person for their operation and also because they weren't supposed to have left their room until they had received Gene-Seed implant.

Everyone was happily relieved when everyone had made it back still alive. Weiss seemed to have it the worst of the three but it could have been worse. It took very little convincing for Leman and Pyrrha but it had taken all Ruby had to get Weiss on board. Leman quickly joined Corvus in the search on the rooftops while Pyrrha joined Yang. Weiss made the least effort and joined Jaune and Fulgrim.

"Do you really think it's still out here?" Leman asked Corvus as they hopped down from one roof to the next. Leman grunting a bit as he was still in a little bit of pain from the Gene-seed implantation.

"Yes I do, Deliverance is smart. I don't think it would get killed so easily." Corvus said as he looked around one of the spires that dotted Beacon, he could see a few birds but none of the his Nevermore.

"Ya do know you're talkin' about a Grimm, right?" Leman said with a slightly raised brow.

"Yes… I know that. But… its… just keep looking!" The three teams continued to look for the small Grimm well into the day. Only stopping when they had to return to their dorms for the last of them to receive the next piece of the Gene-Seed. But once the dinner had begun the teams had decided that the Grimm had either flown off or had been killed. Corvus continued to say that Deliverance was still around Beacon but even he was getting tried. They all sat at the table, the mood dampened by their failure to find one Grimm between the twelve of them.

"Maybe if we ask Ozpin if he knows where Deliverance is?" Ruby suggested.

"No… it's gone… no point in denying it anymore." Corvus said heavily. The memories of the two of them running though his mind as he picked at his food. He had first found Deliverance purely by accident, it was about five years ago. He had been thrown out of a store for shoplifting some food, and he was just sitting in the dumpster they had thrown him into when Deliverance landed on the rim. Corvus thought it was going to try to finish him off as he was too weak form hunger to fight back but it did nothing. It just stood there, later when Corvus had finally gotten something to eat at a Ecclesiarchy run soup kitchen he looked back on and realized that the Grimm had more than likely scared off any homeless people that would have killed him as Grimm tend to scare the common human who only hear exaggerated stories about them. The rest of dinner was spent awkwardly avoiding the topic of their whole day. Both the Gene-Seed and failing to find Deliverance. The trek back to the room was even more depressing but the second that Corvus opened the door.

"Did I just hear…" Leman grumbled as Corvus ran inside to see Deliverance sitting in its cage.

"We spent the whole damn day and it came back on its own." Megan grumbled alongside her brother as Corvus excitedly looked over the state of his Grimm pet. The next hour was filled with a few shouts and angry comments directed toward the Grimm for worrying Corvus but ended when Deliverance did help them distract themselves from the nervousness of the Gene-Seed. That seemed to appease his teammate as they grunted a few times before going to bed. Corvus kept the laugh back as he went to his own bed.

But halfway through the night while they all were sleeping. The little Nevermore quietly unlocked its cage once again. It flew out of the cage and landed in the middle of the room. In a crowd of blue smoke that expelled from the Grimm's mouth a hooded figure exited the smoke with a silent step.

"Was that easy." Tzeentch said, its voice multilayered in different echoed voices. Its three eyes glowed underneath the shadow of its current form's hood. "Let's see what we have here." It said as it moved toward Corvus. Its movements silent but at the same time sporadic. "This one has seen hardship yes… and certainly questions the status quo but holds too strong onto a the idea of a better system." Tzeentch turned to Leman and shifted over to the Wulfen's side. "Agr! And this one, wild. Unruly. Uncontrollable. But far to loyal to him for corrupt to the Blood King." Tzeentch turned to Fulgrim. "But this one… yes… perfect… perfect for her." It said as it moved to the boy's side. "This one holds promise, and so… I promise this one for the Temptress." Tzeentch said as he touched Fulgrim's forehead. The teen's veins turned bright pink for but a brief moment before returning to normal. Tzeentch then looked toward Megan's corner of the room. "Such a shame… that one would have been perfect for me. But she has been infected by physical form of Balance." Tzeentch turned his attention to the next group of interesting kids.

The Grimm God appeared in a small gust of blue smoke in the room of team JNPR. It first looked over to Nora. "This one… strange… I don't sense any true rage in this one. Clever girl, you hide your sadness well even to fool me." Tzeentch said before moving to Ren. "And this one… bland… unnecessary… not needed. But… could prove useful if the truth of this were to infect his mind." Tzeentch smiled under the shadow of his hood as he let these whispers of insecurity enter Ren's mind before turning to Jaune. "My my… the potential this boy hold within him… yes… he will do nicely as mine…" Tzeentch reached out to Jaune's forehead but something sparked back at the talon like finger. With a slight snarl Tzeentch leaned into the boy. "Something… is rejecting me in this boy… very well… then I shall simply watch and plan accordingly." Tzeentch moved next to Pyrrha's bed next. "Strong… a pillar of hope and solidarity. To see such a symbol crumble would doubt take its toll. To the Plague Father with you." And with one touch Pyrrha's veins turned a sickly green for a moment. "Two down, two to go."

Tzeentch appeared in the room of team RWBY next and went straight to Ruby's bunk. "Like mother like daughter… the Silver Blood line always holds such bloodlust." Tzeentch said excitedly as it went to mark Ruby's forehead only to be blocked again. This time Tzeentch was even more surprised, a feeling it found distasteful. "This one is different than the last to block me. As your mother fell to Khorne so should you… but something is protecting you form such a fate… and it isn't Order but… something dripped in the power of Chaos… most strange." Tzeentch then turned to Yang. "She might not have the Silver Blood but she holds a connection to it. And what fire… what anger… what pure innocence to the true horrors of the world. The Blood King will be upset at the loss of his prize but you will still do nicely." It said as it marked Yang's forehead, her own veins glowing a dark red for but a moment. Tzeentch looked down to the girl in the bottom bunk. "You have seen some of the horrors of the world… but I'm afired you lack anything I'm looking for… unlike the last." Tzeentch moved to Weiss's side, its taloned hand moving a strand of hair out of the girl's face. "You have the mind, the drive, and desire to change the world that I seek." And with that Tzeentch marked Weiss's forehead with his own mark causing Weiss's veins to turn a dull blue. "This was most fortuitous, the gods now have their Champions. It may take years for their marks to take even the smallest effect but in the end… it will be absolute." Tzeentch chuckled as its temporary form fizzled away.

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes for the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter Sixty Nine - Orks, Blood Axe Tribe_

The Blood Axe Tribe is the one Ork Tribe that has formal ties to the Imperium. It has held true to its pledge to the Imperium since its first Warboss, Baddfrag fought the Emperor in single combat. In what the Blood Axe calls... the greatest fight in Ork history.

Since those times the Blood Axe tribe has moved further and further away from the rest of Ork kind. They now see themselves as above the rest of their rest as they claim that they are the smartest tribe for working with the Imperium while the rest of the Orks call them cowards and not proper Orks. The Blood Axes don't give much stock in the opinion of other Orks however as they know that working with the Imperium ends up getting them more Guns, scrap, and other resources and most importantly more fights.

The Imperium was at first weary of the Greenskins but over the many years, humans have come to see these Orks as true allies... for Orks that is. As it is not uncommon for a group of Blood Axes to betray the Imperium but the Tribe as a whole has remained steadfast in their alliance.

The Blood Axes mostly live around the various Hive Cites in large encampments that hug the mighty Hive City walls. Providing any invader a extra layer of challenge, one must first get past the walls of junk housing and improvised buildings before even getting to the true walls of the Hive City.

Currently the Blood Axe tribe is led by the Warboss Tuska the Grimm-Killa. The Ork Warboss is one of the most renowned fighters in the Imperium and currently holds the largest kill count of Grimm, surpassing even the Primarchs. He is the only one to regularly make ventures into the Eye of Terror and return.

* * *

Author's notes

Reviews

BluepanedGasMask- Thank you, and I already did a codex on Abhumans in chapter two.

Smurphy1999- thank you and we will see

Pacer287- I know right, but this is Astartes school. And Knights do and the Imperium has three Warhound class titans but that's all.

Guest- Its Emps, he's good at hiding. And thank you for your support.

HavrnofUbar- Hey! Orks are in this story, but its really hard to do a story that is ork focused and not have it be a comedy. They are great as enemies or as side characters.

37- PM

Trickster3696- 1) no SOB because the Ecclesiarchy isn't part of the government they can't have their own army, but there are female Astartes so fair is fair for the genders. 2) we are going to see Tuska and Ghazghul.

Darkerpaths- thank you, and Angron is going to end up being a big part in this.

Nemris- thank you.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes

This is a reminder that these four Team chapters are not chronological, they all take place in roughly the same three first months of their time at Beacon.

And t ready! there is a lot of stuff happening here in this chapter!

* * *

Team JNPR

Nora – Legacy of Heroes

"Wolf… wolf wolf wolf wolf… wolf… wolf." Leman said like he was saying a real sentence instead of just the word wolf. The group of friends just looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Exactly what is wrong with Leman?" Ruby asked but the question was on everyone's mind.

"Bjorn told him the only word he can use is wolf." The group of friends all looked back at the laughing Wulfen sitting on the other side of the Great Hall.

"Wolf, wolf wolf wolf… wolf. Wolf wolf wolf…"

"Stop. Just stop." Megan said as she was already more than a little irritated by Leman's love of Wolf puns but this whole only one word thing was to much. Leman shrank down in his spot. "Good, now… are we all ready for combat training today, word is that dear brother Angron has requisitioned a horde of Servitors for today." The other side of the table went deathly quiet once Megan finished speaking.

"Exactly where did you get that information?" Megan and those sitting next to her turned around to see Commissar Flint's scarred face looking down at them. Beads of sweat began forming on all of their faces as the silence continued following his question. "Regardless, Aspirant Valkyrie… is it true that you and Aspirant Lie grew up with Captain Pious?" Nora and Ren both nodded their heads. "Good, I served with the Vostroyan First Born but I was there when he ended the tenth Black Flood. The man is an Emperor damned hero and deserves better than those old prosthetics. I've arranged for a Tech-Priest…" They all turned at the sound of someone very loudly running out of the Great Hall. "… damn kid shouldn't have to worry anymore… anyways, I've made arrangements for him to receive high quality bionic replacements. I need one of you to escort the Tech-Priest to Captain Pious' home."

"I can do it!" Nora excitedly said as she raised her hand.

"Good, you will meet the Tech-Priest in one hour at the landing pads. You will be excused from any classes you miss." The Commissar said before leaving the teens. Everyone stared at Nora and Ren a little star struck.

"You were raised by Ollanius Pious!" everyone but Weiss and Jaune exclaimed with surprise.

"Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf wolf!" The two quickly shhh'd their friends quickly before anyone could hear.

"Not so loud, he doesn't like all the attention he gets. So please keep this to yourselves." Ren said trying to explain quickly enough to not draw unwanted attention.

"Wow… we know people who were raised by the greatest solider history." Ruby said with stars in her eyes. Everyone in the Imperium had heard of the story of Ollanius Pious.

It was the tenth Black Flood, Grimm were pouring out of the Gate of Cadia in hordes so large that from the sky it looked like a sea of utter darkness. With only pockets of blue, green, red, and purple showing the Grimm daemons. It was the biggest Black Flood in history, the forces of Cadia were driven back to the Hive-City's walls, surrounded by all sides of Grim. The city a bright light in the sea of blackness with all the flashes of artillery being fired.

Everyone around the world expected Cadia to fall when the Grimm Price Be'lakor, the first Grimm Prince known to the Imperium. The avatar of the Grimm Gods' will marched to the gates of Cadia and demanded that they submit to his will or he would personally level the city. In true Cadia fashion they replied with an artillery barrage. The Grimm Prince flicked the shells off and sent them into the gate. Be'lakor finished the gate off himself in a single swing of his mace. The being walked through the gate with a horde of Grimm behind him. Only a single solider stood between him and Cadia. Ollanius Pious.

The battle between the two is surrounded in rumor and superstition, all that is know for sure is that it lasted under a few minutes and by the end Be'lakor was kneeling as his body burned away in the wind. The Grimm behind him and much of the horde of the Black Flood were killed in the backlash of the Grimm Prince's death thus ending the threat.

Afterward Ollanius Pious was given almost every honor and medal the Imperium could think up, He was even granted Sainthood by the Ecclesiarchy. Though the man refused it not being a follower of the Imperial Creed. In the end of all the celebration Ollanius disappeared, classified as retired.

"It's nice that the Commissar is paying for his new limbs though… must have cost an arm and a leg though." Yang said trying to lighten the excited mood.

"Boo." They all said in response.

"Wolf." An hour later Nora was waiting by a fully prepped Valkyrie. She had never seen a Tech-Priest in person before, Grounds Master Veriliad only ever showed himself during meals and then he was always too far away for her to see.

"Aspirant Valkyrie." Nora turned around to the very augmented voice, it was a cross between someone speaking into a fan and talking through a very static filled Vox Caster. "You are to lead me through to Captain Pious' residence." The voice came from a darkened face under a large red hood. A few lights cut through the shadow but did nothing to reveal the rest of his face. The classic red robes of Mars covered the rest of the man's body expect for the two large augmentation that stuck out from the man's back.

"Yes I am, lets get moving Mr?" Nora said in her normal upbeat fashion but it seemed to just roll of the Tech-Priest.

"I am Genetor Morantar, I have given the Machine Spirit its proper rites so we can commence with our journey." He said very bluntly and without any hint of emotion before walking towards the Valkyrie. Nora just stood there unable to really comprehend what just happened. She had never meet any as dull and humorless, even Ren worked as a great straight man to her jokes.

The ride there was even more uncomfortable. Never before had Nora spent so much time in complete silence, even when she was asleep she made some attempt to be her normal excitable self. Genetor Morantar himself just sat there in the hull of their ride eerily still, it was just like Veriliad during meals. By the time they had reached Vale Nora was edger to get this whole mission over with.

The two took the Mag-rail through the city out to outer check point and then a Truk ride through the Ork settlements that clung to the walls of the Hive-City. All though the trip Nora tried her hardest to break through the cold shell of the Tech-Priest but to no success. The Tech-Priest just continued to sit or walk silently, only responding to the most direct comments and questions and even then only responding in the smallest and most blunt ways.

"Well… here we are." Nora said uncharacteristically coldly as they both stood outside the forest that was owned by Ollanius Pious, he had bought the whole thing for himself after his last campaign. Nora knew it was because he was a private man that never like the attention his actions brought him. He did what he did because it was his duty not because he wanted fame and fortune. Not that he didn't use said things to get this land. We need to stay on the path and you need to keep by me at all times." Nora said before starting off on the small dirt path. Morantar followed behind, Nora could keep track of the man easily with the amount of sound his heavy footsteps made. But soon Nora heard something that caused her to turn around in shock. She heard the sound of crunching leaves, she saw the Tech-Priest start walking off the dirt path. "What are you doing?!" She yelled as she stepped in the way of one of the many cameras so the automatic defenses wouldn't target the Tech-Priest.

"I detect a unregistered Machine Spirit in this direction." He said like that explained everything but it just left Nora even more confused.

"Did you not hear me? we need to stay on the… path." Nora stopped talking when the Tech-Priest continued to walk through the trees unconcerned with her words. Nora had to follow the Tech-Priest through the forest to make sure that the cameras saw her and would not activate the various turrets that had been set up by the Iron Warriors, their thanks for saving Cadia.

"There it is." Morantar said as he approached one of Ollanius' sap collectors. Small treaded drones that went through the forest collecting sap from the trees, Ollanius still wanted to provide some good to the Imperium and syrup was his choice in good. Nora thought it was a bit random but didn't question it as pancakes with Ollanius' syrup were her favorite thing in the world. "This machine is not a product or design approved by Mars."

"Yeah… because I made them myself." They both looked over to the source and saw a man in green and leather military fatigues. "Nora… what are you doing out of school."

"Hey Ollanius!" Nora said waving her hands excitedly at the sight of her guardian. "I've brought you someone Commissar Flint says can get you bionics."

"Flint… Flint…" Ollanius said thinking over the name. "Oh! Flint yes I remember him, thought he retired, but I guess Commissar at a Astartes school is as much a retirement as he was going to get."

"You are Ollanius Pious, state why you have a unregistered machine on your property?" The Tech-Priest said interrupting the conversion. Ollanius just grunted a bit, dismissing the Tech-Priest's vailed threat and accusation.

"Because it would take far too much time for me to work the land all by myself and I'm not to keen on hiring anyone to just get killed by my defense systems. As to why it's not an approved Mars pattern, well I won't want to bother the great Tech-Priest with request so trivial." Ollanius said before motioning them to follow him. Nora happily started after Ollanius while Morantar just stood there staring at the small machine gathering the tree sap before eventually following the two after his systems detected the surrounding defense grid start to power up.

Soon the three reached the tree line and out on to a small clearing with a modest log cabin in the middle and a large barn behind that. The smoke from the chimney was bellowing out into the sky. Nora ran past Ollanius and began enjoying the open space that had been her home for the last eight years. Ollanius did smile at the sight but returned to his aged calmness soon enough.

"Enquiry, why a man of the stature of Ollanius Pious would recluse himself to this location?" Morantar said as the Tech-Priest said as he came up to Ollanius.

"I would not rather ruin the perception of the people of the Imperium. Would they find certain things out about me, I'm sure they would lose faith in what my name has come to mean." Ollanius answered, he wasn't hiding anything but he wasn't going to reveal anything either.

"Enquiry, what is connection between Aspirant Valkyrie and Ollanius Pious?"

"I found her and another during one of my trips to the outer towns. During my visit orks raided and killed many, including their parents. I found them and took them in, I guess on a personal level I needed the company and something to occupy my mind." Ollanius could guess that the Tech-Priest had a hard time understanding the logic behind that. Ollanius walked in after Nora into the cabin while the Tech-Priest began setting up in Ollanius' barn. "Well Nora… how has school been." Ollanius said as he sat back in his favorite chair.

"Oh it's the best! Ren and I are partners… who saw that coming… well me of course. And our team is led by this guy Jaune, he's awesome, he's like really smart with battle stuff but not so much with school work. Pyrrha, that's our other teammate, copies down extra notes for him later."

"Sounds like a good group, how are your grades." That stopped Nora in her tracks. "I assume you are doing well."

"Yeah… well… yes I am doing… grades." Ollanius sighed at this not answer.

"Nora… the Iron Warriors don't take in average grades. I know you like breaking things but you need more than that if you want to get into the siege legion. You don't need Thousand Sons level grades but you need to do better."

"I know…"

"Oaky, enough with that. How is your kill count?" The two continued to talk about school and Nora's friends. Ollanius enjoyed the fact Nora and Ren were able to fight such powerful Grimm at the start of their year. About two hours later the Tech-Priest opened the door and escorted Ollanius out to the barn leaving Nora behind. She sat on the couch hugging her legs in slight worry, it wasn't that it was a dangerous operation. All the Tech-Priest was doing was cutting off his prosthetic leg and arms and then swapping them out with bionic replacements. But still, it was still disheartening to think about the man she most respected on a operating table. It was even made worse by the fact that she had very little good to say about the man that would be standing over him.

She looked around the small cabin that had been home for many years, so many memories played back to her. The time she knocked down Ren's massive block tower and her discovering her love of knocking big things down. The time that Ren and Ollanius took care of her when she got sick. That tie she stole Ren's hair brush. It was good to visit home for a while and remember these things.

* * *

Pyrrha – Fame and Family

"Are you fuckin' crazy." Thomson was not having the best of days. First he completely missed breakfast and then lunch and now he was having to chaperon this idiots from Mistral.

"What's wrong, Pyrrha Nikos is in there and I'm going to get a picture." One of the said idiots said honestly confused at Thomson's actions.

"That house is completely off limits to the press!" He shouted so they all could hear him. "That house!" He pointed to the rather large house, not fully a mansion but a good sized house. "Is death to anyone with a camera."

"Why?" One of them asked like the idiots they were.

"That is the house of the hero… and he's not a fan of invasion of privacy."

Pyrrha looked out the window of Jaune's family home at the small gathering of reporters standing at the edge of the iron gate that marked the entrance. She recognized a few from Mistral and one in particular that had been caught trying to take photos of her showering. A few of hose that she didn't recognize were keeping them back from stepping on to the property.

"Um… Jaune… exactly what is going on over there?" Pyrrha asked her team's leader who came over to see what it was she was talking about.

"Oh that… heh… you my dad is kinda famous and so reporters used to come around here all the time until he… started killing anyone that stepped on our property." Pyrrha's eye's widened in shock. "Dad is a former Commissar and so he still holds the Right of Execution." Before Pyrrha could ask any more questions Jaune was called back by his mother to help in the kitchen.

It was nice to Jaune's family, it was a stark contrast to her own. Her dad was always away for business and her mother spent all her day in a half drunk state. The only time either of them would even notice that she was around was when she was in the news for winning some tournament. It could be exhausting at times trying to stay in the spotlight and even more so when she was in it.

The idea that Jaune was the son of another celebrity of the Imperium was a strange thought to Pyrrha. Jaune was the most humble person she knew… sometimes to his disadvantage but he was working on that. It made her wonder who could it be.

" _He said his father was a Commissar… there are a few famous Commissars. I'm pretty sure that Sir Gaunt is still in active duty. Auys Salieri is far too old to have kids. I really don't see Jaune being raised by Pius Kowle… so that leaves…_ " Once Pyrrha reached her conclusion her jaw dropped. "No way…" Pyrrha turned back to the door to the kitchen where Jaune was helping his mother and eldest sister make dinner.

"Pyrrha… you're just hanging there." The sound of Nora's voice snapped Pyrrha out of her stupor. She looked to her side and saw Nora sitting next to her with a smile on her face that felt different than normal. "Did you figure it out yet?"

"You know?"

"I was exploring, this house is huge! And I saw him… in the study. His arms are huge." Nora spread her hands to try and illustrate this. "It was awesome."

"Wow… what was he doing?"

"Takin a nap under a pile of paper." Nora giggled before the door to the kitchen slammed open. Pyrrha and Nora watched as Jaune and his sister carried in plates of food with their mother following behind them, she shared the rest of the family's blond hair and though she looked a bit rushed and stressed it was still clear that she was beautiful.

"Jaune, make sure that you don't drop anything this time. Iris, don't just drop them on the table, make sure to be careful." Jaune's mother said as she oversaw the two siblings.

"Yes mom." The two droned out.

"Pyrrha dear… could you please get my husband. I think he's working in his study upstairs." Pyrrha froze at the request. She was going to meet one of the biggest Heroes in the Imperium. Second only to the Primarchs.

"Um… sure… yes I will go get him." Pyrrha said with very little grace as she struggled to comprehend what was happening. She ignored the giggles coming Jaune's younger sisters. Pyrrha was able to climb the stairs no problem but once the slightly open door was in view her steps grew heavy. She certainly never expected to meet someone like him this morning. She could hear a slight snore as she held on to the door handle. She quietly pushed the door open trying not to disturbed the man, slightly forgetting that she was going to wake him up. What she saw surprised her, he was indeed under a pile of paper that also covered his face. He was wearing red cargo pants and a sweatshirt with the Vacuo Reclaimers logo on it, a minor Bloodbowl team. "Um… Mr. …" Pyrrha wasn't sure what to call him, she knew the famous name but Jaune's last name was Arc meaning that he might have changed his name.

"Cain… Cain is just fine." He said as he pushed the paper's off his face. His voice was deep and gruff but not hostile. And his face was exactly like how he looked in all of the posters and the backs of his books. "So you're the girl that has my boy in such a tail spin…" He said before standing up and looking her over. She could feel that he wasn't checking her but assessing her just like how Commissar Flint did every week when Aspirants had to check in for inspection. "Eh… you'd do fine in the thick of it." He said as he gave her a pat to the shoulder and walked past her leaving Pyrrha slightly confused and… a little happy that Ciaphas Cain complimented her. "So what's on the menu tonight?" She heard him say as he walked down the stairs. She returned to the real world and followed Cain back down to the dinner room. The man already had one of his younger daughters on his arm and giving the giggling girl a ride through the house leaving Pyrrha and Nora speechless again.

"Not what you were expecting?" Jaune said with a slightly smug look.

"Not at all… I mean… that's Ciaphas Cain! And he's your dad?!"

"Yeah, he doesn't like people knowing that so… if you could keep it secret please."

"Oh sure… but… if you're his son then… I'm sorry but…"

"Why I'm I so weak? It's fine, I asked him that when I failed to enter the Astartes schools." Jaune said in a hushed tone. "He told me that every one of those heroic moments was just him trying to stay alive. He trained a lot but it was more luck than anything, his words." Pyrrha just stared in shock. Their attention was taken away from their conversion when the sound of the front door opened and Ren walked in, though the smell on him reached them before they ever saw them.

"Oh that is disgusting… Ren… what happened?" Nora asked as she pinched her nose along with everyone else.

"Kid, before you explain yourself, I'm gonna need you to take a shower." Cain said pointing upstairs but Ren just stared at the living legend completely awestruck. "Yes yes I'm famous but go take a shower before you stink up our dinner." Ren eventually went upstairs to take said shower. "Boy… what is wrong with that one?"

"That's not normal, usually Ren is the most clean out of all of us." Jaune said trying to defend his teammate.

"Yeah, especially since Jaune and Pyrrha still don't shower in the morning." Nora said causing the room to go pin drop silent. "What?" The younger sisters al collectively eww'd while the older ones tried to hide their chuckles.

"Jaune Arc! You better have a good reason why you would not do something so basic. I thought I taught you better than that." Jaune's mother said as she pulled Jaune up by his ear.

"Ow! Come on mom!" Jaune pleaded, unwilling to tell out of embarrassment. His mother turned to Pryyha who just turned away with a slight reddening to her face forming. She then turned to her husband for clarification.

"Beacon uses coed showers to break down Aspirant values and modesty so they can fight Slaanesh Daemons better. And other more bull crap reasons but mostly the daemons."

"Coed showers?! How awful, Jaune good on you for refraining from such a demeaning practice."

"Eh… he might want to start. I've seen Slaanesh Daemons and… you really want to kill any feelings that may come up in the presence of incredible…" Cain stopped when he saw the look his wife was giving him. "I mean… Astartes are meant to be above the pettiness of normal humans. They are there at that school to be broken and rebuilt and part of that is their morals and values." Cain said, the Aspirants were surprised at how close it was to the explanation Instructor Angron gave. Jaune's mother did not look convinced. "Hygiene?" Cain tried.

"Very well… Jaune and Pyrrha dear… you both need proper hygiene. As much as I don't want my little knight surrounded by… he still needs to wash the grime and dirt of training." Jaune's mother gave him a small pat on the head and returned to the dining room.

"Boy! What did I tell you… all women look for is confidence! By wimping out you shown you lack confidence… for shame son, for shame." Cain said this but his tone was more comical than anything else. "But enough, let's help your mother prepare…" Cain stopped midsentence and looked to the window. He carefully dropped Jaune's sister to the ground and took the chainsword that hung above the mantel and walked out of the house the sword already raving.

"Oh no… one of the Mistral reporters just made a big mistake." Jaune said before running over to the window with Pyrrha and Nora right behind him. They watched as Cain walked over to one of the trees that were in Jaune's front yard. He looked up for a moment and then pulled down a screwy sickly man with a camra.

"I know him!" Pyrrha said with a large amount of disgust in her voice. "That's Kasbiel, he's the smileball that took pictures of me…" Pyrrha stopped just before she crossed the point of no return. However the other two Aspirants had a good idea as to what it was, but said nothing and return to the show outside.

"Cain! What what are you doing here?" The reporter stammered out.

"This is my house… and a no Paparazzi zone." Cain said dangerously. The sound of the chainsword adding to the terror.

"Yeah but I'm not here for you… Nikos is in there… oh Emperor… you and… AH!" Kesbiel yelled as he ran away from the impact of the chainsword hitting where he had been laying. "Hey! you can't just attack people like that!"

"Actually I can, called the Right of Execution." Cain said as he followed Kesbiel through his front yard.

"Wow look at him go!" Nora exclaimed as they watched Cain chase Kesbiel around and around.

"Mom! Dad's going after paparazzi again!" Jaune yelled back to his mother.

"Just let him handle it Jaune. I'm sure the Vale journalists warned him and he just didn't listen." She replied from the dining room. "Everyone come in, dinner is ready." After Nora went upstairs to collect Ren everyone minus Cain gathered in the dining room. They waited for the head of the table to get in from outside and soon enough he did, his boots slightly bloody.

"That one was springy, got away with only an arm lost." Cain said with none of his family seeing this as shocking or even morbid in the slightest. "Now, let's dig in." Cain said before picking up a fork to start but stopped when he noticed the look on his wife's face. "What?"

"This is not any ordinary dinner, this is celebration of the Vytal Festival and the next Generation of Astartes. We will prey before eating." Cain seemed to grumble at this but stopped when he joined in everyone making the sign of the Aquila. Cain led them in a prayer in High Gothic. It wasn't a special prayer, just a classic one of asking the God-Emperor to bless their food and bless the day and the next.

After dinner, most of Jaune's family spent their time watching the Vytal festival in the family room. Jaune's eldest sister and Ren were washing plates, Nora was with Jaune's family cheering on the Beacon senior class in fighting.

Pyrrha was sitting on the roof of the house staring up at the stars. The basted moon hanging in the air. Pyrrha once heard that the moon got that way through a fight between Malal and the Eldar God Khaine before the Emperor fought Malal. Another story was that the Grimm God Khorne did it to prove to Slaanesh that he was the stronger of the two but Tzeentch did something to trip him up before he could finish off the moon entirely proving which of them was the smarter of the three. But the story she liked the most was the one her mom told her when she was very little, before her mom disconnected from reality.

Long ago there were two Eldar brothers, the older a follower of Isha and the younger of Khaine. They only meet again after many years apart living their lives in service to their gods. The older brother finding many cures to many different sicknesses, the younger felling many of the few enemies the Eldar had in those days. But once they meet, what happened was inevitable. The two fought. The older brother could not accept the killing the younger one had done and the younger could not accept the fact his older brother was so weak. The two cursed the others' gods, cursing what they had done to their sibling. This had caught the attention of the gods and ended up causing the gods themselves to fight ending in the moon's destruction. The two brothers saw what had happened and realized the pettiness of their fight.

"Hey… what'ch doing up here?" She looked over to see Jaune climbing up on to the roof.

"Just star watching, I don't really know any of the senior class and so I wouldn't know who to cheer on." Pyrrha said as Jaune joined her sitting on the roof. "You know I never expected your family would be even more famous than me. it makes the fact you didn't recognize me on the first day meant a lot to me."

"Yeah… I sorry about that."

"You don't have to be, in fact it was great to meet someone that did go crazy because they were meeting the great Pyrrha Nikos. If I'd had known what would happen when I had won all those tournaments then I would had never signed up for so many."

"Really, you could always do what my dad does." Pyrrha looked at Jaune a little shocked, mostly at how casual Jaune's family was with the idea that Cain just killing people simply stepping on the property. "From what my sister says it used to be just like what you have to deal with. People always trying to get a picture or story even if it wasn't true. But then one day they started printing out a story saying that I wasn't my father's son and my had cheated on him. That got him really pissed, not at my mom he never believed that shit. But what got him so pissed was the fact people started treating my mom like garbage, kicking her out of places and throwing things at her. I even was there when a Ecclesiarchy priest tried to incite a witch burning for _causing such pain to one of the God-Emperor's favored_." Jaune said in air quotes. "And so… dad got really pissed and called a few favors… in the end the company that ran the story ended up burning to the ground. And everyone that hurt my mom ended up in the care of the Hospitaller. My dad says the only thing he will ever feel truly brave about is protecting his family."

"Wow… that's nothing like my own family. Dad spends most of his time traveling the seas trading between the segmentums. He makes a good amount of money but he's never around and mom… well… she's not at all like yours. She spends most of her day lounging around drinking wine. It wasn't exactly the best place for raising a child."

"Will you still came out of it, and I think…" Jaune was interrupted by the sound of a bolt round shooting through the roof. "… um dad likes to celebrate the old fashion way so we should get off before Vale wins another round."

* * *

Ren – Running

Ren was spending a bit of his time off walking through Vale. He was going to meet up with the rest of his team later and they were going to head off to Jaune's place as his family insisted that his team come over for the festival. Ren had no problem with that, Ollanius was in Atlas for the Vytal festival in person. He was mostly there trying to market his syrup but that really wasn't that necessary as simply just putting his name on it made it fly off the shelves.

The snow crushed under his shoes, Ren did not like winter all that much. He didn't like the cold to begin with. The people around him were bundled up in very warm clothes while he was restricted to the Aspirant uniform, it came with a light jacket but it wasn't nearly up to the challenge. The Beacon logos did get him free recaf and half off his lunch so it did have its perks.

"Repent! The end is nigh!" The nearby preacher yelled out at the top of his lungs. "Blessed be us, we are his flock yet we bow to the heretic Eldar. The God-Emperor demands that we purge the inhuman filth from Remnant! It be his holy…" The priest stopped to glare at the man that threw a cup at him.

"Would you shut the warp up. You really think screaming on the street is going to change Imperial foreign polices?"

'Filthy nonbeliever! You dare question your betters! I call you heretic for such insolence." The priest continued to rant and Ren watched the event at a good distance. Everyone around either had smirks on their faces meaning they likely thought the priest was a joke, a bad joke but a joke none the less or they had scowls directed toward the man who threw the cup. Ren really did not want to be dragged into the argument as a prospective Angel of the Emperor. "You there!" But it was not meant to be. "You are a Aspirant of the Holy bearers of the God-Emperor's fury! I beg of you to purge this heretic!" the priest yelled out to Ren.

He could feel the eyes of everyone in the area focus on him. But before he could answer or even respond, the a loud pop sound was heard and a explosion of gas burst out of the nearby manhole cover. Ren covered his eyes from the tear gas and was less effected than the normal humans to it. He was able to see slight outlines of humans taking sevreal people. But they were all misshapen from the normal human outline. Ren tried to follow them but was hit in the back of the head. It didn't knock him out as the attacker intended and just as said attacker went to pick Ren up, Ren kicked back up and responded with a few quick shots to the mutant. The mutant fell down to the ground unconscious and Ren refocused on the others. They looked to be dropping back down the same manhole they came out of. The gas began to clear Ren ran over to man hole. The sound of Arbites trucks began getting closer, Ren dropped down after the kidnappers.

Surrounding his feet with aura to protect from the sludge and slurry of swage. Ren began running after the sounds of hurried footsteps and grunts of broken gothic. Ren quickly brought out Storm Flower in preparation for the coming rescue fight.

Soon enough Ren came upon a cistern where a gang of mutants where waiting for him, all of them differning and none of them had the same body shape. A many had a third or even forth extra limb, one had sevreal eye stocks coming out from his head, another had a mouth on their chest, a few had scales covering various body parts. In summation they all differed greatly from the baseline human form. And to Ren's worry and horror there was a Dark Eldar there as well. His black baroque armor covering only the most vital of places leaving the rest bare.

"Well what do we have here? A foolish little human. But look there, upon the boy's shoulder. Tis the symbol of Beacon academy, two hundred Thrones to the man that can bring me that one alive." The Dark Eldar said before walking back through another pipe.

"You her'd em boys! Payda bonus for us!" the largest mutant roared as he smashed a misshapen sword against his iron belly guard. Ren jumped over the crowd firing into it. The mutants that had enough aura or natural armor just roared back in annoyance while those that didn't roared in pain as the Dust rounds hit their bodies. Ren grabbed ahold of a dangling chain and swung over to another pipe. Sevreal of the mutants began climbing up the walls to the pipe Ren was standing in while others fired crude autoguns. Ren's aura was more than sufficient to shrug of the solid rounds of the autoguns and those mutants that sought to fight him in close range were mistaken of their advantages as Ren easily stabbed back in their eyes and faces the second they peered above the pipe's floor.

The Mutants on the floor of the cistern backed back into the pipe that their boss retreated back into. Ren quickly jumped on the cistern floor and ran over to the pipe, avoiding the shots that the mutants threw back shots trying to dissuade Ren from following. There was little chance of that. Ren's aura blocked the few stray shots that actually landed on him. It was quite easy to finish off the remaining mutants leaving only one left to interrogate.

"AGGRRRR!" The three armed mutant screamed as he tried to attack Ren only to be sidestepped each time.

"If you please stop and answer a few…" Ren began but was surprised when a blade stabbed through the mutant's body. the pile of mismatched parts fell over revealing one of the mutants that Ren thought he already took care.

"You complete fool! I've been working this assignment for months!" The mutant yelled at Ren while he just looked slightly confused. The mutant scowled and pulled out a small syringe from his back pocket and injected whatever was in it. The mutant's flesh suck back unnaturally, steam visibly started coming off its body until all that was left was defiantly not a mutant or male. "Shocked? You're an Aspirant, right? You should see a Callidus Agent at least once." She said from behind a black mask that covered her entire head and was connected to a skin tight body suit. "Well you're doing better than most guys."

"What are you doing here?" Ren said ignore the agent's suggestive remark.

"No fun… well then if you must know… oh wait you can't know. Its classified." Ren knew there was a smirk behind that expressionless mask. "But what you can know is that Eldar is wanted by people with enough clot to get Us involved. The job doesn't need for him to be alive… so if you want… team up?" Ren just ignored her and continued down the pipe. One of the few lessons that Instructor Agmman cared enough about to be awake for was to stress that Assassinorum was far too much a headache to ever get involved with. "Rude!" She yelled after Ren but not following him, that made Ren pause, the Assassinorum never gave up on a target… if she wasn't following him that meant the Eldar and more importantly the kidnapped citizens weren't this way. Ren back tracked to the waiting assassin, who was checking her nails even though the suit she wore covered her hands. "Back so soon?"

"Where are they? I don't care about the Eldar but he has…" Ren stopped at the agent putting her finger to his lips.

"Shh… I don't care about your goals and you don't care about mine. But that doesn't mean we can't work togethers. Inter-Imperium brotherhood and all that." She said before starting back down the pipe. Ren glared but followed and soon she showed him a small hatch that the Eldar had taken his captives through. The two dropped down and followed the tunnel out to a small grate leading to the Vale docks. "His ship is cloaked but I know where it is." She said before running over to small alcove that had been marked as _future development_. Ren watched as the agent just shimmered out of the air.

Ren looked over to the rest of the docks knowing that he could very easily raise a Guard alarm and have the Imperial Navy here within minutes. But then it was likely the Eldar would just slip through the chaos. It would be so easy for him to pass as another Eldar working on the dock once he acquired normal clothes.

He also considered the fact that if he did that he would likely anger a Callidus agent and that was definitely something that anyone would want to avoid. He might be training to become a Astartes but even they could be fooled by a Callidus wearing a loved one's face.

So he followed the agent through the distortion field and found a ship clearly owned by a Dark Eldar. Everywhere he looked there were black, purple, and red barbs and spikes that he could never understand how they served any practical purpose. Multicolored lights shinned out from the deck and loud heavy bass music blasted out.

Ren quickly noticed that the Callidus agent had disappeared even though they entered the field a mare minute apart. It was likely that she had already changed into another form and was now on the boat blending in. Ren quietly moved over to under the ramp from the dock to the ship. It was hard to hear anything of value from the crew walking on and off as the music from the deck was diluting every conversion.

Controlling his breathing, Ren continued to infiltrate the ship. Climbing in through one of the open portholes, after checking what was on the other side first. Ren quietly moved from room to room looking for either the captives or a sign of the Callidus agent. He eventually found the agent… hanging upside down naked in the captain's room.

"Don't just close to the door! Get me the warp out of this thing before he comes back!" She yelled as Ren began to close the door, he felt like Nora would never forgive him if he didn't try that gag out. He had to rethink his opinion on Beacon's policy on the coed showers, before having to go through that he would have had a much harder time with the next few minutes. Once Ren had gotten her down from the chains suspending her in the her he tore off a black banner that hung in the room giving it to the agent. "Thanks… that bastard is more tricky than I thought. He spotted me the moment I stepped on the ship. My suit should be here somewhere…" She said as she started looking around. Ren was able to see her face a few times but it seemed like she unconsciously kept it out of sight. She had long blond her though it wasn't like Yang's in that it was either kept or was naturally straight, blue eyes, but what Ren noticed most of all was the fact she couldn't have been any older than himself. "Ah! Here it is!" She exclaimed as she pulled her suit out from the many trunks in the room.

"So how do you want to proceed?" Ren said turning around as she reentered the bodysuit. "You said the captain will return soon, so want to ambush him together?"

"Nah… my orders have a very specified date that he needs to die." She said as she finished her redressing. But when Ren turned back around she was still naked. "I'm going to need you to hook me back up in that thing." She said without any shame at all. Ren could only imagine that the Assassinorum had similar training methods as the Astartes concerning modesty.

"Why, I thought you were suppose to kill the target not be his captive?"

"I won't be his captive. So long as I have my suit…" She tossed him an empty syringe. "… I'm never in any danger. Plus that weakling could never hope to break my aura so there's that." Ren sighed at the strange agent and reluctantly helped her back into the chains. "Thanks… the captives are in a crate back on the docks... just make sure to keep them quiet and make sure to tell them not to alert the Guard thanks." Ren just hung his head a bit, he had enough of this whole event and was looking forward to a bit of normalcy.

Ren quickly jumped off the ship and found a large create that he could hear pleas of help coming from. It was easy to open the crate, hard to keep the would be slaves quiet though. Many of them wanted to alert the local authorities but Ren was able to convince them to just go home. He watched over them until they were past the distortion field.

Ren was able to find his way back to the main roads of the Hive-City and would be able to make to Jaune's place… about two hours late and smelling like the sewer.

* * *

Jaune – In Shinning Armor

"Would anyone like to face Aspirant Eldfel?" There was no one that raised their hand. "Very well, Aspirant Eldfel you can return to your seat. Aspirant Arc, Aspirant Winchester you two are next." Team JNPR watched as their leader walked down to his match and then watched Leman walk past them to his team.

Jaune looked back up to his friends before looking at the smug face of Cardin. The bully had been the bane of his life at Beacon, even more so than Angron, Homework, Snotlings, and crushing fear of not living up to his family. Cardin beat all those things easily. The boy went out of his way to make Jaune's life horrible, for no other reason than he was small and weak. The only time Jaune was safe was in the presence of his friends, particularly Leman. Cardin feared Leman as much as Jaune feared him.

"This fight will be to whoever can drop their opponent's Aura into the red. And begin." Cardin and Jaune both readied themselves. Taking the first move, Jaune ran forward sword ready by was beaten down with a hard hit by Cardin's mace. Jaune tried to roll off the hit but failed and just landed on his back. Cardin took the opportunity and began smashing down on Jaune's shield.

Jaune knocked back one of the strikes and rolled out of the way for the next. Jaune was able stand back up but Cardin wasn't about to let him stay that way. The bully swept low and hit Jaune in the legs knocking him back down to the floor and once again began wailing on Jaune.

"You can do it Jaune!" He could hear his team cheer their support but right now he wished they wouldn't. it just made him feel worse. He was failing as a leader. Jaune tried to get out of the current trap with a kick to Cardin's knee. Cardin jumped back holding on to his bruised knee allowing Jaune to get back up. Jaune moved to take advantage and began slashing at Cardin. Cardin was on the defense but not for long, he soon parried one of Jaune's slashes and returned to being the one attacking.

"This is the part where you lose.' Cardin mocked before knocking Jaune down to the ground for the third time. Cardin stood over Jaune ready to begin another rush of attacks only for the lights to flick back on signaling that the match was over.

"That's enough… Aspirants, as you can see Aspirant Arc's aura has dropped into the red." Instructor Goodwitch said as she came out on the arena. "On the battlefield this is where your captain would switch you out with another Battle brother or sister. It is imperative that you learn how to keep your eye on how much aura you have so you know how long you can stay in battle. Mr. Arc while it is true your aura will be visible on your armor's HUD it is still good practice during these exercises to check your scroll. It could mean the difference between life or death in a real battle and we wouldn't want you to be eaten up by a Squiggoth now would we?"

"Speak for yourself." Cardia said just loud enough for Jaune to hear as he walked back to the stands.

"Now I expect you all to behave yourselves during the break. And I expect you to be cheering on your seniors in the upcoming Vytal festival, You are all dismissed for the day, I will see you at dinner." At that many began to leave the arena. Jaune just sat on the arena floor in self-pity until his team came and got him.

"And there we were… in the middle of the night…" Nora started her story while the rest of their friends listen… while most of them. Weiss was working on her nails, Leman was off serving his new Alpha, and Blake and Megan were reading their books.

"It was day." Ren corrected with every little enthusiasm.

"We were surrounded by Ursai…"

"They were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!" Nora excitedly said sitting up.

"There were two of them."

"But they were no match. And in the end Ren and I took them down! And made a boat load of Thrones selling Ursa skin rugs." Nora said sitting back down with the look of triumph on her face.

"Ah she's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now."

"You know, dreaming about Grimm isn't a good sign." Megan said as she turned a page in her book. "But since you end up killing the Grimm it shouldn't mean anything." Megan then noticed Ruby looking back at Jaune and Pyrrha who were still banished due to their smell, which was particular bad today as her dear brother Angron had made them run… for the entire morning training… with no stopping for any reason. It wasn't that it was that hard as the all had already built up their endurance but that didn't mean that they didn't sweat anymore. "Something wrong Ruby?"

"It's just that Jaune has been really down lately. And I think I know what is causing it." Ruby looked over to Cardin and his team who were currently picking on a Faunas Aspirant.

"Cardin has been getting bold lately… when he figured out that all it takes is to keep Mercury at bay is to say a Tech-Priest is in the room all that was left was Leman to keep him in check and now…" They both looked over to Leman holding a tray of food for Bjorn. "… yeah… Cardin now has free range to be as big of a jerk as he wants."

"When doesn't the Commissar stop him?" Weiss stated, having taken issue with Cardin when he made an offhand comment on the Schnees being a bunch of has been failures.

"Because he hasn't done anything to warrant a Commissar's intervention." Megan answered. "In fact… it's much more likely that the Commissar might execute the victim on account of weakness. Astartes are supposed to be the kind of person to stand up to a bully not sit there and take it… oh but I doubt he would do that on first years, we still have a long ways to go and Flint isn't a trigger happy hardliner anyways." Megan tried to backtrack when she saw the looks on her friends and Weiss' faces.

"As much as I hate to agree with the tactic… but Megan is right." Blake sighed. "We're expected to deal with problems like this. It's as much as a part of our training as classes are."

"Oh! We can break Cardin's legs!" Nora said perfectly on board with the idea.

"Let's think of some other ideas but we can save that for later if need be." Blake said trying to keep Nora down a tad. "Does anyone have anything to keep track of ideas?" It was Megan that pulled out a small stack of paper.

"Do not worry I always have paper with me."

"What a fuckin' nerd you are." Leman said as he finally joined his friends for breakfast.

Later that day in History class.

"The Raise of Chieftain Gorthor is considered to be one of the darkest chapters of Abhuman history…" Oobleck said before taking a sip from his recaf. "… considered to be the most powerful and destructive Beastmen that has ever blighted Remnant he almost completely destroyed the Hive-City of Macragge… unfortunately this has had a lasting effect of distrust and outright discrimination against Abhumans in the city."

The class continued to listen to the lecture while others tried to stay awake. The topic while on the surface seemed to be something teens being trained as warriors would be very interested in, blood and battle, Oobleck tended to focus on the parts that the teens had very little interest in. The How's and Whys.

"… populations while now are monitored and kept at a the lowest rate feasible were not at this time. As such the Herds of Beastmen out in the wild could grow without restraint. Thus allowing for a single Beastlord the opportunity to unite them into a singular force. Now who of you young scholars can tell me the Trait all wild Beastmen look for in what they think to be a capable leader?" Cardin then flicked a folded piece of paper at Jaune. "Mr. Arc! Wonderful to see you contributing in class now what is the answer?"

"Um… the answer… um… the answer to your question… for the trait… that Beastmen… look for is…" Jaune desperately looked to his teammates for help. Pyrrha was making a motion to the top of her head. "Um… their hair?" The class quietly laughed at the wrong answer.

"While that certainly is a… close guess I'm afired it is wrong. Cardin!" Doctor Oobleck called out having noticed Cardin's previous action. "Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject?"

"Well… it's hard to think that those animals are smart enough to even notice…"

"Thank you, Mr. Winchester… if you don't have anything productive to state we will move on to someone that does." Oobleck cut Cardin off. "Ms. Prospero, if you would."

"Horns, wild Beastmen see an individual's horns as a showing of favor of the Grimm Gods. Gorthor was one of the few Beastmen to be born with three pairs of hours, all of them grew to be of significant size and such many joined him simply out of that fact."

"Very well done Ms. Prospero, that is exactly correct. Now, Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester, I would like both of you to stay after class." Once class was over Pyrrha waited outside for her team leader. About ten minutes later both Jaune and Cardin walked out and Cardin did so while pushing Jaune down to the ground.

"Nora's idea of breaking Cardin's legs doesn't sound so bad now does it?" Pyrrha said as she helped him back up.

"No… he's just a bully and… I can handle myself." Jaune said the words but it was clear he didn't believe them. Pyrrha looked at her leader with slight worry before an idea popped in her head.

"Come with me." Pyrrha said before dragging Jaune off. Their next class was with Instructor Agmman and it was common for first years to blow the class off. They had heard that he started actually teaching in second year and completely ignored the first year, whenever a first year would ask an older Aspirant about it they would just look off and say that they would understand when they get to second year.

"Um… Pyrrha… I don't think I ready to become a servitor just yet?" Jaune said as he looked over the ledge of the small flat roof Pyrrha had brought them to.

"What… No!" Pyrrha said before hastily pulling Jaune back a bit. "That's not what I brought you up here for. Jaune I know you're having a difficult time in class. And that you're still falling behind the rest of us in training… but I think it's because you're not being trained in the best way."

"What?"

"Listen… almost everyone in Beacon has some kind of previous experience when it comes to combat. Whether it's one of the pre-Astartes Schools or living beyond the Hive-Cities or whatever, the thing you're lacking is experience. All we have been doing is building up our bodies in the morning and you're doing fine in that but in the afternoon training… your falling behind because you were already behind everyone from the start. That's why you failed the entrance exam and needed to fake your way in. all you are lacking is experience, you're doing fine in everything else."

"So, what do you think I should do?"

"Well first off, you need to be taught the basics. The Instructors simply assume that you know those already if you get into Beacon."

"But he didn't." The two of them looked back to the ledge and saw Cardin pull himself up onto the roof with them. "Couldn't help but overhear that Jauney boy here as you put it faked his way in here."

"Cardin… you can't tell anyone." Jaune started.

"That was Jaune's Brotherhood Pact, you can't tell the staff, anything under the brotherhood pact is protected." Pyrrha said but in truth she knew that Cardin wouldn't listen.

"Oh don't worry… I won't tell anyone… so long as you two do a few things for me." The way Cardin was looking at them both would have sent shivers down their spine had it not been for the fact they were training to become Astartes… instead it just pissed them off a little bit. "First off…" Cardin said as he walked between the two of them. "Jauney boy here will be doing all of my homework from now on. And little miss famous will publicly announce that she is now my girlfriend."

"What?!" Both Pyrrha and Jaune yelled out at that, Jaune had completely ignored the first part and had focused on the second.

"You know the old saying, silence isn't cheap."

"Do you really think we're going to agree to that?!" Jaune demanded though noticed that Pyrrha wasn't protesting. "Pyrrha?"

"If it means that you don't get expelled then…"

"No way, I'm about to let you degrade yourself for me. Pyrrha your smart, beautiful, great to be around and worth a million times whatever he deserves…" Jaune said pointing to Cardin who just smiled at the spectacle in front of him. "What are you smiling about?"

"The fact this is just a Servo Skull projection. And I'm sure that you'll never find me before lunch where I'll be telling the Commissar your dirty little secret." At that _Cardin_ flickered out of view leaving a Servo-Skull floating where he was standing.

"Come on we got to find…" Jaune started as he moved to the door but Pyrrha stopped him by holding on to his arm.

"Did you really mean you said?" It was at that second Jaune's head sobered up from the anger he felt for Cardin and remembered what he said.

"Um… ah… um… yes but you see the thing is…" Jaune was interrupted by Pyrrha giving him a quick kiss.

"No one has ever stood up for me like that." Jaune was unable to make a coherent reply. "Let's go get Cardin and then get Nora to break his legs." Pyrrha said before running off to do just that. Jaune just stood there, his brain trying to compute the series of events that led to Pyrrha kissing him. Eventually he ended up jumping in the air in celebration of his first kiss but then turned very afired… because if Cardin told the Commissar that he wasn't legally here at Beacon then there was a good chance that the Commissar would shot him in the head and simply return to eating his lunch.

Jaune and Pyrrha searched every where they could think of until they had to go to their next class and that was when they told their friends that Cardin had discovered something that could get Jaune kicked out of Beacon or worse and slightly more likely killed. And Cardin was planning on telling the Commissar at lunch. The group of friends noted that Cardin wasn't with the rest of his team. After Port's lecture, both Leman and Yang threatened team CRDL with pointy objects and many hits to the face respectively, but none of them had seen their leader since history class.

"This is not good." Leman said after throwing Sky across the hall. "Are you sure the bastard has something that bad on ya?"

"Oh yes… it's very bad." Jaune said slightly shaking. Knowing that Cardin was planning on tlling the Commissar at lunch the group knew he was going to be there and hoped to beat him there. But to their horror he was already in the Great Hall standing in front of Commissar Flint.

"Aspirant Arc! Please come here." Flint ordered as soon as he saw Jaune walk in to the Great Hall. Jaune gulped and slowly walked up to the under-staff table. "Aspirant Winchester has told me something that… could be very damning." Jaune and Cardin looked up in surprise at the word could. "Is what he told me truly your Brotherhood Pact?"

"Yes… Yes sir it is."

"Okay, then that means it is true then." Flint said before standing up. "Attention Aspirants!" Flint boomed out drawing the attention of the mostly filled Great Hall. "It appears we have our first execution of the year!" That had caused gasps from many of the first years and curious looks form the older ones. "Remember Aspirant… you brought this on yourself…" Jaune closed his eyes and when he heard the loud bang of the bolt pistol he expected everything to end… but it didn't. He opened his eyes and saw Flint's bolt pistol smoking and then he looked to his right and saw Cardin lying dead on the floor with a hole in his head. "This traitor thought he was above the most sacred law among Astartes! He found out Aspirant Arc's Brotherhood Pact and thought to use it to blackmail him. That is unacceptable! You never are at odds with your brothers and sisters. You may give each other a hard time but you are always together in service to the Emperor! You never sell out a brother, you never try to leave behind a sister. You are Astartes in training! You are better than that!" Flint said before sitting down. "Aspirant Arc, return to your table and remember that you are lucky that you are protected by the Brotherhood Pact. And know that I have my eye on you." Flint said before waving Jaune off. Jaune was still shook up by the whole thing seemed to be able to return to his normal spot on instinct.

"Jaune… are you okay?" Pyrrha asked as he joined his friends.

"Yeah… it's just that… he killed Cardin. I hated the guy but… I didn't want him to be killed like that."

"It's how things work here. It's like the Commissar said, Cardin did bring it on himself." Megan stated flatly, not in the least caring that Cardin had died, she along with her brothers were the only ones out of the group who had grown accustomed to death. The rest of them had yet to.

* * *

"So… what do you think?" Ozpin said as he turned the screen off.

"He will do well, very promising." Kaldor Draigo said as he sipped from the tea cup in his hand.

"Mr. Gold agrees as well, Jaune Arc will make an excellent addition to the Gray Knights. But what about Ms. Nikos?" Ozpin said carefully, who went into the Gray Knights was the sole responsibly of its Primarch and it was dangerous to assume otherwise.

"Ozpin… Ms. Nikos lacks a certain spark that is required by those destined to fight our most hated enemy. Orks may cause wars and suffering, the Dark Eldar may feed of suffering, the Tau… but Grimm… no, but Daemons… they are the real enemy. And it is the duty of the Gray Knights to purge them from this world. Jaune Arc holds the spark that I seek, and Pyrrha Nikos does not.

* * *

Alpha Legion Data File

Persons of Interest

Subject: Cypher

Designation: Suspected Rouge Astartes

Threat Level- Potentially Level Eight

Author of Report Ingo Pech First Captain of the Alpha Legion

In my investigation of anther one of these called Fallen Angels scandals, Luther is just on another bout of paranoia. He really should stop that, its our job after all to be paranoid. I investigated the six Astartes and found that all of them are loyal, to which the Dark Angel Primarch disagreed and requested that they be executed. As I stated in my report on the event I recommended we get that bastard out of office or at the very least get those men and women out of that legion before Luther makes good on his threats, two of them would do great work here I might add.

But I did find one person of interest, that being the agent within the Legion called Cypher. Apparently The Dark Angels are now the Night Lords because they are hunting this poor bastard with no oversight. This itself is suspicious, but so far my findings show that they believe that this is to be a internal Legion problem. And not something for Us or the Night Lords.

I At First. I can not stress that enough, went along with that and continued my investigation of the Fallen Angel case. But something is going on over there in the first Legion. I don't know if Luther is involved or whatever but all of the accused Dark Angels all made mention at one point or another that soon Luther and sevreal other high ranking members of the Dark Angels were going to get what was coming to them and Cypher was the one to bring about this reckoning.

In conclusion, I don't know who this Cypher is but he is either on our side and Luther is a Traitor or we have a new player in the game and he seems to have the support of seemingly loyal Astartes.

* * *

Reviews

trickster3696 - Thank you, and yes... everything is going... just... as... Planned.

Stoneificaunt - The Marks that Tzeentch placed on them are so buried in their minds that not even Emps will figure it out until it's to late, and thank you for Reviewing.

Pacer287 - Thank you very much, that was exactly the kind of feed back I need.

BluePanedGasMask - Yes but there's some secrets surrounding Ruby, Summer, Khorne and... wait for it... Angron. I'ze Gots Some Plans.

Darkerpaths - Yes I know. It is defiantly something that is hard to balance. as you can see in this chapter. But that is my goal, to fuse the two into one. you have done this one way and it is awesome! (I sung that by the way) but I have gone a different way.

Smurphy1999 -Thank you and just wait... hehehe... so many plans.

Fussionsniper - Thank you and merry Slaaneshmas to you.

Nemris - Yes I see where you are coming from. But remember... this is their first year at Beacon and I plan on taking them through the full five years it takes to become an Astartes. Fulgrim will grow. And he's still a perfectionist... just a little awkward and has some expectations that are more based in fiction than reality.

MachineDog90 - Thank you for taking the time to Review, and yes... Chaos is coming people... hehehehehe

MrGreen37 - PM

Chapter Master Sinclair - Honorable Battle Brother! I am sorry to say that some will fall, but who I shall not tell.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes

I decided no Cinder team because I couldn't think up good mini stories for them. If you can PM me and we can talk about it.

* * *

Team RWBY

Blake – Instincts

Blake was walking through the streets of Vale, the sounds of people rushing around was a little hard on her keen ears but the earmuffs she had helped a little. She was currently doing a bit of exploring around Patch, she had never been to the island before and wanted to see it in full.

It was small and served as a waypoint between the Hive City of Vale and the sea. Where the Hive had the Ork encampments on its land side for extra protection, Patch served the same position for the sea. The island was half docks and half garrison. Only the pre-Astartes school Signal differed from those two descriptions. Everything else was what you might find in a normal town, housing, a restaurant here and there, and of course a few bars both for the local Guard and townspeople.

To her Patch was simply one of those places that reminded a person like her that the Imperium wasn't all bad. True, it was a nation filled with cold uncaring bureaucracy, extreme views left and right, and a place that if you didn't fit the norm you were seen with distain and hate… but at the same time there were also people that made all of those things feel slightly less apparent. Weather that was a good or bad thing Blake had yet to decide.

Her partner and her sister had… gently… forced Blake to come with them for the holiday after they had learned that Blake had no family or friends in Vale. Blake now thought it was sweet that Yang had basically dragged her out of their room and the airpads… though at the time of it happening not so much.

"What'ch thinkin' about there?" Blake turned around to see Leman leaning against a brick wall, a smug and knowing smile plastered on his face… which was also slightly red. Blake was going to go with him being buzzed for the reason of that given the bottle of booze in his hand.

"What are you doing out here in Patch, I thought Megan said you would be in the Under-Hive."

"I was… but then I remembered that you and I still have a bit of unfinished business." Leman motioned between the two of them as he spoke. Blake had a vague idea of what he was talking about. "The kind that I know you would prefer stay between us and not spill onto the teams or Beacon for that matter."

"What business?"

"White Fang business." Leman said before taking another sip from his bottle. "You still in contact with them?"

"No…" Blake said as she looked away from Leman. "… I left after I… I left okay. End of story."

"Nah..." Leman said as he left the top of the bottle between his teeth. "You see, it's really not. Because the White Fang… they have a debt to me that needs to be paid. They sold out the location of my pack." At that Leman crushed the bottle between his teeth. "Damn it!" Leman exclaimed as he covered his now bleeding mouth. "Fuck…" Leman spit out the few pieces of glass before retuning his focus on Blake. "Don't ever tell Megan I did that."

"Trust me I don't to remember you doing that." Blake said trying to hold back the gag that was trying to form at the sight of what just happened.

"Whatever… listen, I don't care you aren't the White Fang anymore. But just know… that I am going to kill every last one of them… including that boyfriend of yours." Leman smiled as he blocked the punch that came at him.

"You shut up right now." Blake growled out.

"Ooo… kitty got claws but mine are bigger." At that Leman's gloves ripped open revealing his freshly gown claws, along with his new claws his face grew more canine like and large fangs grew out of his mouth. The air between the two began growing increasingly hostile until the sound of a Arbites siren passed by. Blake stance relaxed as Leman returned back to his normal form as he laughed. "That was close! We almost went at for no fuckin' reason." Blake sighed, as much as she hated to admit it but Leman was right. There was no reason for her to have reacted the way she did. Adam had been an important part in her life at one point, and it was a point in her life that was still very much recent. But… the whole reason why she had joined the Astartes was to get away from all that. Adam, the White Fang, all of it. She shouldn't still be reacting to threats like that. "Well kitty cat… I best be off… before I do something stupid and get us fighting again." Leman joked as he started walking off to find another bar to pillage.

"Hey Leman." Blake called out before he left ear shot. "You want to join us back at Yang and Ruby's place, not very festive to be out by yourself." Blake wasn't exactly sure why she had offered, it wasn't her place to offer anything like that given it was Ruby and Yang's home and Blake herself was just a guest. Leman stopped walking but didn't turn back around. It was a full minute before he responded.

"Thanks… but I do better on my own." He said before returning to his walk back to the bars leaving Blake, she expected that answer but was still a little sadden by his refusal. She just didn't like the idea of Leman out alone felt wrong to Blake. The Vytal festival was a time meant to celebrate the Astartes and comradeship. But she wouldn't stop the Wulfen from enjoying the holiday his way. Deciding that it was probably time to return to Ruby and Yang's, the secret Faunus began the trek back.

It took about a half hour to return to the rowhouse that was the home of the Rose/Xiao Long family. When she opened the door she found the family dog Zwei. The sight of him had at first made Blake feel uneasy to say the least but after staring down a fully formed Wulfen the small dog was nothing to Blake.

"Blake!" Ruby stuck her head out from the living room. "Come on, you're missing the opening fight between Primarchs." Ruby's head zoomed back in as Blake closed the door behind her. The whole house felt warm and inviting, pictures of family hung on the walls… but it was clear that a few had been taken down but not recently.

"Oh Yeah!" Blake heard Yang yell out as she entered the family room. Ruby and Yang were sitting in front of the couch, their father sitting back lazily watching, the only person missing was Ruby and yang's uncle but he was required to be at the actual festival. "Blake come on, Grimnar is kicking Ahriman's ass." Yang said before scooting over to give room to her partner.

"So Blake, anything happen out on your walk?" Ruby asked as Blake joined them.

"Uh… I ran into Leman and we kinda fought…" There was the sound of Yang zooming out of the building after that statement. Blake and Ruby were both surprised at the speed at which the blond was able to pull off. "Um what just happened?"

"About a year ago Yang forbade Leman from setting foot on Patch." The two teens looked up to Ruby and Yang's father. Clearly happy at the idea that he didn't have to worry about his eldest daughter when it came to boys… given that she was more than likely to punch them into next week if they tried anything. "But I'm guessing that she was so quick this time was the idea of him fighting you." Taiyang said before eating a mouthful of popcorn.

"It was my fault, I was the one who overreacted and started the fight."

"That doesn't matter to Yang…" Ruby countered. "… she takes threats like that seriously. Every time some bully would pick on me Yang would be there in a heartbeat and put the fear of the Emperor in them. She's good at that." It was about five minutes later when Yang returned with Leman kicking and screaming.

"No! You can't make me!" Leman yelled as tried to claw his way out of the doorway to the Rose/Xiao long home. Yang pulling him in by his right leg, his left foot on her face.

"You are to and you are going to mean it!" Yang yelled back before trying to push Leman's foot off her face.

"Does this happen often?" Blake asked as she and Ruby watched from the doorframe to the family room.

"It's been happening less but yes." Ruby said before speeding off somewhere before returning with a leg of ham. The younger girl soon waved the piece of meat over the Wulfen who stopped fighting Yang and stanched the ham out of Ruby's hands.

"Ham…" Leman hummed after ripping off a piece of the meat with his bare teeth. It was much easier to drag the boy into the rowhouse now. The Wulfen only coming out of his meat induced stupor once he finished chewing off every bit of meat on the bone. Thus allowing the everyone else present time to watch another two rounds of fighting. "… damn…" Leman grumbled as he finished the bone, he then threw the chewed object to the side and then remembered where he was. But before he could make a break for it he was tackled to ground by Yang.

"Say it!" Yang demanded as she pulled back Leman's legs.

"Fuck! Damn it girl!" He then heard his spine crack in very bad way. "Fine I give! Blake I'm sorry for attacking you!" Leman said before Yang finally relaxed her grip a bit.

"And you will be staying with us instead of getting drunk right."

"No fu… OW! Holy Terra what is wrong with you?! Fine I'll stay." Leman said once again giving into Yang's demands.

"Good." Yang said before patting Leman on his head and getting off the Wulfen. Said Wulfen grumbled at the loss of his night of drinking but he still had another night tomorrow. The five continued to watch the Vytal festival through the night, ending with a match between a Astartes from Vacuo and Vale and to Vale's joy the Beacon Astartes won in a photo finish attack. The Vacuo Astartes nearly made the final shot but was finished off with a power fist to gut before he was able to pull the trigger.

When they announced the Vale victory the whole Rose/Xiao long house exploded with cheers and excitement. Taiyang accidently flipped his bow of popcorn over himself, Ruby fell back in exhaustion from all the excitement, Leman tried to sneak a kiss from Yang only to be swatted away instinctually. Blake watched the celebrations with comforting envy, the kind that you fel when you were happy for someone else but wished you had that too. Her relationship with her own parents was… unknown at this point. On one hand her father slammed the door in her face both literally and metaphorically when she told them that she was staying with the White Fang and Adam. But now… she knew that her parents weren't the type of people to hold grudges and now that she was becoming a Astartes things could be better. Not perfect but better. It was a hopeful thought that didn't seem that farfetched.

"What's going on in here?" Yang said as she sat down next to her partner while playfully poking Blake's head.

"Oh it's nothing..."

"Wrong. You were thinking about something important."

"And how could you tell that."

"When you're thinking about something important you tend to scratch whatever is under you." Yang pointed down to the small lines on the floor under Blake's hand. Blake was surprised that Yang noticed a tick like that, Blake didn't even realized that she had started doing that again.

"I was thinking… about my parents." Blake sighed realizing that it was futile to try to avoid talking about this seeing as how persistent Yang could be. "Seeing you guys having fun and seeing your house just made me think of them."

"Good or bad thoughts?"

"Hopeful thoughts mostly." Blake reassured her partner. "They weren't exactly happy that I stayed with the White Fang after they started turning into what they are now." It had been a long time since she told Yang about her past, or at least parts of her past. After Yang had been so supportive about Blake being a Faunus, she felt that the whole Brotherhood pact wasn't just for show. Blake honestly felt like she could trust Yang, and that was something Blake couldn't say about most people. "But now… I'm thinking that I might be able to reconnect with them."

"That's great!" Yang exclaimed as she gave her partner a bear hug. "I could never think of a world where I couldn't talk to my dad about something… that didn't concern boys." Yang explained after pulling out from the impromptu hug.

"Right… I think half the reason my dad was upset was because of a boy."

"Ouh… I don't think I've heard this story." Yang smiled turned at the somber look on her partner. "Sorry… if that's something you don't want to talk about that's cool."

"Thanks, its fine really. Just not something that I'm ready to deal with yet." The two were quickly interrupted from the saddening topic of Blake's ex by a tray of cookies being placed in front of them.

"Nope. You two are not allowed to be sad today." Ruby said as she stood back up after placing the tray in front of them.

* * *

Weiss – Eternal Snowfall

Weiss was currently helping the few Aspirants that stayed at Beacon for the holidays set the decorations for the upcoming Vytal Ball. A tradition that had been passed down through the years since the start of the Imperium. Weiss had attended the Ball in Atlas when she was younger and it had been very formal and a shining example of high society only rivaled by Macragge's own Vytal ball. Wiess had been told that Vale's own ball was much less formal… not nearly as casual as Vacuo which amounted to an all night rave.

Mars ignored the whole thing, seeing as pointless. But Weiss knew that there was a underground party every year held by the younger Tech=Priests and the servants that still held their individuality. Mistral was in the same boat as Vale with a causal yet dignified celebration. While Cadia… they more than likely missed the whole Vytal festival all together.

"Weiss… a little higher if you would." Fulgrim asked in his snappy Director of Decorations voice. Weiss was sure that she was going to be chosen for the job and yet.

"How about that?" Weiss snapped back as she lifted the banner a bit higher. Fulgrim glared at the festive banner, making all sorts of indecision like sounds with even a few maybes thrown in there. "Fulgrim you better give me an answer soon."

"Fine… I guess it is acceptable." Fulgrim said not convinced at all. He was sure he was going to have revisit that banner later. "Hey! don't you dare put that up there, that shade of blue completely clashes with that shade of white!" Fulgrim yelled as he marched off to the offending Aspirant that had dared to mar his aesthetic vision.

"I think I just got why they chose him over me." Wiess mumbled to herself as she stepped down off the ladder. Weiss looked around the Great hall and to her continued disappointment it was still basically empty. Only roughly ten people had stayed behind, the only staff still in the whole building was grounds master Veriliad and Flint. Though both weren't around much. Veriliad wasn't a people person to begin with and Flint was only required to stay to keep any Aspirants from burning the school down.

The rest of the remaining population were the few Aspirants that wanted to help decorate like Fulgrim and those that had nowhere to go like Weiss. She could go to Altus and spend time with her family but that meant she would have to spend time with her family. Something that she had come to loath. Her sister had become even more cold to everyone when she joined the Atlas Valhallan Ice Warriors. Her little brother still was insufferable schemer he always was. And her father… the less said about him the better. The only person remotely pleasant to be around for the heiress was her mother and even then that was straining the word pleasant.

So now here she was without her team or friends and whatever Megan was. Weiss thought about joining the rest of her team at Ruby and Yang's home but knew that if her family caught wind of that she would rather go anywhere else than Altus she would never here the end of it.

The heiress sat down in her normal spot that she would take during meals and watched as Fulgrim ordered people around. She had hoped that the boy would help her through this little dilemma she was having but she had no such luck. Fulgrim was too taken with making sure everything was just right for the upcoming dance. A dance she had yet to get a date for but that was a headache that Weiss was avoiding for the time being.

"You bored out of your skull too?" Wiess looked up and saw the owner of the slightly stern voice, Lecia.

"Yes…" Weiss sighed. "Beacon isn't exactly as fun as the fairy tale look it has wants you to believe." Lecia chuckled at the joke before sitting down across from Weiss."

"Lecia Deus." The girl said extending a hand.

"Weiss Schnee." Weiss said responding in kind.

"Really… interesting. I think I met your sister once. So far you clearly were the one to inherit the Schnee grace." Lecia complemented with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Why thank you, you certainly hold a dignified air of nobility to yourself as well."

"Well I would hope so, the daughter of the Consul of Macragge should have such a trait." It was Weiss' turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Impressive, but why is the daughter of Consul Deus here in Vale and not Altus?"

"I could ask you the same thing Miss Schnee."

"Touché. But I have a guess."

"If it correct then I will confirm it."

"Escaping overbearing parent?" There was a moment of silence before being broken by the sound of Lecia hitting the table with her head.

"He was everywhere… the day I arrived in Vale was the first day I didn't see him every hour." Lecia complained to her fellow heiress. "Always telling me just how to do everything just perfectly."

"I completely understand, nothing is ever good enough for them." The two heiresses continued to talk about their overbearing fathers and of their unreasonable expectations. The conversion eventually grew warmer and less on their shared suffering. And soon enough reached the topic of dates to the upcoming dance.

"I'm hoping that I can get Bjorn stuffed into a suit long enough for him to be presentable." Lecia said as she fondly thought about her Wulfen boyfriend in a suit. "But then again… I do much prefer him out of it." She chuckled as her suggestive comment caused the Schnee heiress to turn red.

"What… how… you two have already?"

"No… stuff like that is forbidden for us first years. Third and up. And our leader, Garviel is a stickler for the rules. So we can't even get the chance to. But what about you? Anything going on in your team?"

"Oh don't even start. I could never think about doing something like that."

"What, don't like girls?"

"No it's not that. It's that they are my teammates and they are my teammates first." Weiss said defending herself.

"Uhuh… if not your team then who? I heard that Arc is off the table now."

"Really? Jaune is dating someone… no…" Weiss said as realization hit her. ever since that incident with Cardin Jaune and Pyrrha had been acting… closer. But Weiss just thought they had come out of the whole thing closer in a plutonic way.

"Yup… I have to say Nikos did very well for herself. He may be a bit dorky but I can tell he's only going up and with Nikos helping him along no telling how hot he'll get." With that Weiss began feeling a bit worried about her prospects on getting a date for the dance.

"Well I'm sure someone here is acceptable… any ideas?" Weiss asked her new friend hoping that she would take a little pity on her.

"There's Fulgrim…" They both turned to said Gold Family member. "He's cute, a romantic, and is certainly going places. Then again, Gold and Silver rarely mix." Weiss gave the Macragge glare at the common slur for her family. Lecia ignored the glare and moved her gaze over to Mercury as he was working on his legs. "Then there's him, a bit mystery and he's not lacking in looks, and I wonder what kind of improvements Mars gave him beyond those legs." Weiss continued to be taken back by the other girl's suggestive comments. It was not something that she expected out of a daughter of one of the High Lords of Remnant.

"No, he's not really my type." Weiss didn't exactly like the idea of going on a date with someone that constantly hits on any passing girl.

"Well how about his partner, you said you didn't have a problem with girls." Weiss thought back to who was Mercury's partner. She was the shy girl that tended to stay in the background. She seemed nice but Weiss had no interest getting involved with her family, Weiss had enough family problems and would not add any more on top of her own.

"No." Weiss responded flatly.

"Then what about… my partner. Garviel Loken?" Weiss now was giving her full attention. Garviel was perfect. He was handsome, strong, the model Astartes in training. But there was the problem, the thought about going out with someone that her parents would so readily approve of slightly sickened her. But he was at the moment the best option.

"Maybe…" Weiss started off. "What's he like?"

"Quiet most of the time." Lecia admitted. Her partner was definitely not a talker. "But he listens, a lot, and when he does talk he tends to say the right thing you need to hear." Weiss didn't like what she was hearing, it sounded too much like she was sugar coating it. But then again, a quiet man was not the worst she could do. "He's also very loyal to the cause, it's his big dream to join the Luna Wolves. But yeah… he's also a very good dancer by the way."

"How do you know that?"

"His mom is a dance instructor… you can kinda assume that." Lecia chuckled. "But if you want… I can set up a meeting. He's in the city with his parents and brother so it would have to be after the holiday but before the dance." Lecia offered, Weiss looked to the side for a bit as she considered it. It mostly came down to either this or going by herself. The latter felt more and more appealing the more she thought about it.

"Fine… I'll give him a chance."

"Great, I'm sure the two of you will hit it off." Lecia said before walking off to call her partner.

"You really going to go to the dance with that sack of hammers." Weiss knew that cocky yet only slightly warm voice.

"Karma." Weiss said as she turned to address the boy that kept stealing top spot in the first year grade rankings. "Did you really eavesdrop on our conversation, that's a new low even for you." While Cardin might have been a very public bully, Karma was a whole lot smarter in his trouble making.

"Not at all, I only paid attention in and out. There is so little to do here and I'm under orders to stay here. No away game fun for me." Karma sighed, meanwhile Weiss was trying to figure out just who had ordered him to stay at Beacon. "By the way, I couldn't help but notice my name never came up in your little list of suiters?"

"You? Please, like I would ever resort to you."

"Suit yourself, my offer will stay open." Karma said before standing up. "Now if you would excuse me, I have a faculty room to redecorate." The secret Vindicare agent said as the Schnee heiress just glared at him. She really did not like that boy, he was lazy and constantly challenged the Instructors every chance he got. There was even a day that he corrected Instructor Port on the migration patterns of Beastmen herds. And yet, he was the top in every academic subject. Weiss always spent hours of extra time to study and yet this ruffian did everything so effortlessly.

Weiss pushed away the irritating boy from her thoughts as she returned to her romantic prospects. Now thinking about what she might wear for the meeting with Garviel.

* * *

Yang – Need for Speed

(I'm not ashamed for that)

"Alright Aspirants! Time for first Bike lesson." Instructor Silver announced as he lead his class through the Beacon Forge. "It is required by all Astartes to have working understanding of how to ride a Assault Bike. If you are looking to join the White Scars then I suggest you pay extra attention to this lesson." The class continued to follow their Instructor though the deepest part of Beacon until they came to a chamber lined with Assault Bikes. At the end of the chamber was a opening door that led to the outside.

" _This is going to be so easy_." Corvus thought as he walked over to one of the Bikes and quickly hopped on. Having rode bikes like these many times before, Corvus was one of the first to start the machines up.

"Very good Aspirant Corax. The rest of you find a bike and start it up." Instructor Silver before walking towards his own Grav-Bike.

"Wow… these are real Assault bikes." Yang drooled as she looked over the bike in front of her. "They are just as awesome as I dreamed they would be." As a lover of all things bike, Yang was able to inspect each and every part and was able to tell that each and every one of those parts were in top shape.

"Yang… you okay?" Her sister said snapping the brawler out of her stupor.

"Yeah! Just… admiring the bike." Yang said before getting on side bike and then revving the machine. "Aww… yeah. That's a real Astartes Assault Bike."

"Aspirants!" Everyone's attention was drawn to Instructor Silver as he surfed over to the front of the line of Bikes. "Today we will be starting to learn how to properly ride this machines of high speed war. As such you will be limited to twenty miles per hour." The whole class groaned and a few voiced their disappointment even further. "Quiet! This is your first lesson, get to the exit without crashing." He said pointing to the opened gate to the outside grounds.

"That's it?!" Someone called out.

"Yes, your first lesson is to get to the door."

"Piece of cake!" Another Aspirant yelled out as he went full throttle only to swerve and crash. The bike was still in one piece as they were built to handle impacts such as that but from the sounds coming from the Aspirant he was not fine.

"I hope you all learn from that. Start slow and work your way up to the door." Instructor Silver chuckled before surfing over to the front of the door. "Whoever can actually reach me will be excused from the rest of class." That caught everyone's attention but the continued sounds of pain coming from the edger Aspirant tempered their excitement with caution.

The first year Aspirant class started off slowly, only pushing the Assault Bikes a few inches forward. They all wanted to get a feel for how much gas would push them forward. The answer was very little, as these bikes were made for the heat of battle and not joy riding. They were meant to go fast and go fast quickly.

The first one to start to drive the temperamental machines was Yang. Having years of riding her own bike allowed for a small bit of past experience to go back on. This Assault was far more powerful than her Bumblebee back home but the basic rules still applied. She didn't to the door as once she got past the first ten yards mark Inductor Silver activated a pseudo obstacle course for the bikers. The floor restructured into various inclines and ramps and opening up to plots of several different types of terrain.

"Very good Aspirant Xiao Long but I'm not about to make this easy on you all!" Instructor Silver yelled out to the class. Yang saw this as clear challenge to her and was about to take when something passed her.

"Is that the best you can do!" Corvus roared as he raced passed her. One of the many charges the jailbird had on his record was joy riding. He even was able to steal a Arbites Bike once and return it before anyone even knew it was stolen from the lot.

"You're going to regret this much." Yang chuckled to herself as she revved the bike up and chased after Corvus. The rest of the class watched in awe as the two raced through the obstacle course. Yang swerving between the walls and various traps, Corvus jumping off ramps and crashing though the many terrains.

"Holy fuckin' Terra… how are they doin' that?" Leman grumbled before glaring at his own bike. The Wulfen pulled hard on the throttle and was quickly launched forward, ending in him flipping the bike forward and sending him through the air and into a wall. A few Aspirants laughed at Leman's mistake while others were too worried about his survival, most notability the various female Aspirants that had fallen under the Wulfen spell… and to a lesser extent his family was moderately concerned.

Meanwhile Corvus and Yang continued their race to the finish. Corvus held the led for the first half but he soon got bogged down a bit in an actual bog. Yang was able to use this to close the distance between them.

To Yang this was one of the best class lessons she had ever had. The roar of the Assault ringing though her ears, the smell of promethium burning like a punch to her face, the thrill of moving at speeds man was never meant to reach without powerful machines. It was so amazingly awesome.

She soon passed the leader of team CRML and in was the first to reach the fresh air that came in from the gate.

"Well done Aspirant Xiao Long, very well done. But you did exceed the twenty miles per hour rule but I think over look that for today." Instructor Silver said before returning his focus to the rest of the class.

"Nice race." Yang turned over to see Corvus holding up a fist for a well done race.

"Yeah…" Yang said as she bumped the fist back. "But Corvus, Silver is the best medal in this class." Corvus and even Instructor Silver groaned at the pun on his name. He had heard the joke in many versions before but somehow Yang's pun had just hit number one in most cheesy. The two retuned to the start of the track via the side of the chamber which had remained flat. Yang was a little disappointed that she had to stop riding but with the class over for her she wasn't allowed to touch the bike after returning it. "I'm sorry my lovely but until next time." Yang said as she lovingly patted the bike before starting to walk off with Corvus as he was the only other person around.

"Sooo? Now what?" Corvus asked trying to break the awkward silence that was hanging in the air. The two of them had devolved a truce, Yang had yet to pet Deliverance but Corvus had dropped holding their first meeting over the blond. It was mostly due to Ruby's pushing and pledging for the two to make up that it even happened. But that didn't mean that the two of them were the best of friends. Thankfully someone else was able to break the awkwardness.

"That was so great stuff back there!" All of a sudden a girl that neither of Yang or Corvus had seen before was in there faces. She was dressed in very light fur clothing… though if you asked someone of more conservative tastes they call it skimpy. But the feature that drew the most attention wasn't the amount of skin the girl was showing but the tail that was wrapped around her waist.

"Jaquelin, we have discussed personal space many times before." Lion said as he pulled back his sister and partner. The second year Aspirant then noticed just who his sister was bothering. "Hey… you're that newcomer that's on Leman's team."

"Really!" Jaquelin yelled as she escaped Lion's grasp and rushing over to Corvus with a speed that could beat Ruby. "Your Megan's partner, she has told me so much about you!" She said as she shook a confused Corvus' hand.

"Um… okay… who are you?"

"Oh duh! I'm Jaghatai Khan Chogoris. But that's a mouthful so you can just call me Jag, Jack, or Jaquelin… that's the one my family uses but you can call me whatever you want." Jaquelin said with a smiled that caused the normally very collected Corvus to fluster for the briefest moment.

"Um… thanks…" He then gave Yang a _Help Me_ look, even though he was expecting to see Yang just smile and poke fun at him, he was surprised that the blond was giving the new girl a glare that he was unfamiliar with seeing on Yang.

Yang knew about her sister's crush on the former criminal, she could kinda see it. Corvus was not bad looking and he had many good things going for him. A good work ethic and completely clean morality were not among them but still he did have his bright spots. But as Ruby's sister she didn't like anyone trying to steal him away before Ruby even had a chance.

"And you…" Jaquelin said turning to Yang. "… that was some really good riding back there." This time it was Yang's turn to be confused, one second she was flirting with Corvus and the next she was complementing her skills on a bike. "It would awesome to race some time."

"Jaquelin, we have class." Lion said, not particularly happy with tardiness or his sister's ramblings.

"Oh fine… let's get to class." She groaned as she began to follow her partner to their class. Giving Corvus a quick _Call Me_ before they turned a corner.

"Wow… that was… okay." Corvus said unsure about how he was suppose to take what just happened. "I think am just going to head back to my room if that's okay with you." Yang was about to say something but then noticed that she couldn't see Corvus anymore.

"Great… now I'm all alone." Yang complained thinking about what she could do. Very limited options, she could go back to her team's room, study, explore the school. Or… she could go and try to survive a private training session with her favorite Instructor.

Five minutes later she was in the indoor training yard, her target was currently taking a brief nap while leaning back in his overseer chair. Yang quietly walked over to the sleeping Instructor, as she got closer his snoring stopped for a second. Yang froze mid step thinking that she might have been heard. But then he went back to his normal breathing. It was at that point she had the thought of maybe this would be a bad idea. So instead she grabbed a nearby rock from the training ground and chucked it at Angron. The second the rock hit his head it smashed to pieces.

"Why… why are you here and not in class." Angron growled out not opening his eyes. Not even the least bit concerned that he was hit with a rock.

"I got out for being the best rider." Yang announced smugly.

"Whop de fucking do and good for you." Angron said as he opened his eyes and turned over to Yang. "Blondy… what do you want?"

"I was hoping that you might show me some of your moves, I don't really have much else to do until class." That made the Instructor laugh a bit.

"You know what… beyond the tits and the heir you remind me a lot of myself back when I went here." He chuckled as he stood up from his chair. "Sooo… you want to be a fighter, War Hounds, Tundra Wolves, Dark Angels?" Angron said as he circled Yang.

"War Hounds duh."

"What's your Semblance."

"I get mad and my heir goes on fire and I get stronger the more hits I take."

"Ha… I win. I can't die as long as I'm pissed. And I'm always pissed." Angron darkly chuckled. "But that will do just fine in the War Hounds. But first…" Angron surprised Yang with a soild punch sending her back a few feet. "… you need to learn how to fight without it. So for this lesson no fiery hair." He said as he took up a boxer's stance. Yang smiled as she stood back up and got into her own fighting stance. Very much looking forward to this fight.

* * *

Ruby – Heroes

Ruby was lost… so hopelessly and utterly lost. She had heard that they built things really big in Macragge but she never thought that they built them this big. Everywhere she looked was just rows of marble columns. Every now and then there would be a wall and she would try to follow it but that never worked out.

She was currently on a job for headmaster Ozpin to deliver a package to the Primarch of the Ultramarines at his home. Ruby was so excited at the idea of meeting a real Primarch and to visit the political capital of the Imperium… but to a less extent. The package was small, she could hold it in her hand easy enough. But that wasn't the problem, the problem was that she was lost.

When she first landed in the gilded city of Gold and Marble it was a true sight to behold. It was nothing like Vale that raise off into the sky into a mountain of buildings and walls but Macragge spread out rather than up. All around her were great palaces with fields of neatly cut grass and stone walkways. Beautiful waterworks doted the landscape. And in the center was the jewel of Macragge. The Imperial Palace where the High Lords of Remnant live and rule the Imperium.

Ruby never before felt so small when she looked out onto the vastness of Macragge. But she was eventually able to rain in her awe at the city long enough to be escorted by a Astartes of the Ultramarines.

Four hours ago.

"Aspirant Rose." Ruby squeaked at the loud and booming voice that came from behind her. she had just gotten off the Valkyrie that had taken her from Vale to Macragge and was still in awe.

"Yes…" Ruby turned her head to see a man wearing the blue and white of the Ultramarines. His tunic clearly something that would take years to buy on a normal person's wages. Everything about the man screamed nobility, from his chiseled features, to his well-manicured fingernails.

"I am here to escort you to Primarch Guilliman residence." The way he spoke was calm and confident but there was a undertone of irritation that one would easily miss. "Come." HE said before turning and starting the walk to the Mag-rails that crisscrossed the city.

"Oh… yes sir." Ruby meekly said before following the Ultramarine.

"Aspirant Rose… have you ever been to Macragge before?" The Ultramarine said not looking back at Ruby.

"Um… no sir."

Truly it is a sight to see, far better then Vale… the mountain it is. This is how a city should be…" The Ultramarine continued to talk about Macragge and how it was superior to all the other Hive-Cities. Expect for Atlas, he did admit that city was doing things right. If the Astartes had bothered to face Ruby he would have been met with a very un-Ruby like scowl. She had lived in Vale her whole life and to her it was home. Even with how great and pretty Macragge was, to her Vale was still ten times better. "… So Aspirant Rose, which Legion are you studying to join?"

"Oh… um… well I hope that I could one day join the Salamanders Legion." Ruby answered, the topic of her favorite legion lessening the frown on her face. But from the new silence from her escort he did not agree with her choice in Legion. It was no secret that the Ultramarines pushed all four of the schools to send them as many new Astartes as they could… they never directly told to do so but the message was there.

The rest of the trip was spent in the silence with Ruby's escort giving her the increasingly cold shoulder. But eventually they reached the home of the Primarch of the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman. It was a massive palace but unlike many of the other ones she had seen in Macragge it was certainly built with Defense in mind. From the few lessons in defensive construction, Ruby could tell that this was a fortress as well as a palace. She was so awed by the home of a Primarch that when she walked through the huge door she didn't notice that she came in alone and only did notice when the door closed behind her.

"Um… Mr. Ultramarine! I… ah… I don't know where to go from here!" She called back, the door to large and heavy for her to open herself. There was no answer to her and with that she turned back to the huge foyer. In the middle was a great staircase that led up to a second floor balcony. On either side of the staircase were two doors, only the one on the left looked like it was light enough for Ruby to open. And she assumed that the second floor was for bedrooms and that's not what she was looking for. So she went left… and that led to a hall. That went on forever.

Four hours later…

"I'm so lost…" Ruby said as she slouched over in defeat. "No! I am a Astartes in training! And I will not be beaten by hallways!" Using her Semblance she dashed between the pillars of marble for another ten minutes before once again… feeling the hopelessness of the situation set in. Until she heard someone nearby.

"Please brother could at the very least give a hint where your office is." Ruby heard a low and deep voice accompanied with the sound of heavy foot steps. Ruby then turned the corner to find… "Oh Hello there." Vulcan said as he saw the young girl turn the corner. His eyes slightly squinting at the girl, she looked so familiar to the Primarch of the Salamanders.

"You're… you're… you're…" Ruby bubbled as she was unable to contain the excitement due to being in the presence of one of her greatest heroes. Vulcan, Primarch of the Salamanders Legion.

"Are you okay?" Vulcan asked as it appeared that the girl was beginning to hyperventilate. "Just breathe slowly." Vulcan wasn't used to fans, while he was certainly a loved Primarch he wasn't a famous one like Solomon or his brother Horus.

"Okay… okay… breathe… in and out… in and out… You're Vulcan!" Ruby yelled out in excitement while waving her arms around in pure joy to be meeting one of her idols. "You are the coolest, I've got your poster and your action figure and everything. Its my dream to one day join the Salamanders and you're the greatest that's ever lived!"

"Really… you want to join my Legion… at such a young age? Ah that warms my heart, it really does. Tell me young Aspirant, what is your name."

"Ruby Rose, Aspirant first year sir… you're Vulcan… this is so cool."

"Ah, you're Summer's child. I thought you looked familiar."

"You knew my mom?"

"Knew her? I offered her the position of third captain the second she graduated from Beacon. But unfortunately she turned me down and joined the Dust Raiders. Your mother was one of the best, I sorry for her loss. But I'm sure that you will live up to her memory and if you show the same talent she had I'm sure there will be a spot waiting for you." Ruby was so happy at that she completely over looked the normal sadness that would have come up at the mention of her mom's passing away.

"Really?" Ruby asked with stars in her eyes. "Because if you don't mind… I have something here that I would love for you to see…" Ruby said before bringing out her Crescent Rose. Vulcan's eyes widened at the sight of the scythe.

"Interesting… lovely overall design. And yet no loss on tactical availability either." Vulcan said as he eyed the weapon. "The blade… good size… maybe the length of the pole could be reduced a bit but fine as it is… I can see a few areas that could be improved upon but this is a true work of art Miss Rose."

"You… you… like it."

"If you find the time I would most certainly love if you could meet me at my forge and we could do some work, I would love to see what the daughter of Summer Rose would have to say on a few of my projects." Ruby could die right there, happy and content. Her hero just asked her to work on weapons with her. She could die right now and she would be perfectly fine with it. "But first I have to meet with my brother, and I would assume that is what you are here for?" Vulcan's question snapped Ruby out of her bliss.

"Oh… yes. I'm here to deliver this to Primarch Guilliman." Ruby said holding out the small package form Ozpin. "You're Vulcan." Ruby accidently let slip again.

"Well then we should find my brother at once, I'm sure that he is expecting both his brother and this package soon. Come along." Vulcan said as he continued to search for his brother's office with Ruby joyfully following behind, it was only after another three hours of wandering and one helpful Servo-skull that the two ever found the Ultramarine Primarch's office.

"Brother… what took you so long?" Both Vulcan and Ruby glared at Roboute. "And you are young lady?"

"Aspirant Ruby Rose." Roboute stilled for a second once he heard that name.

"Rose… as in the daughter of Summer Rose?"

"The very same." Vulcan answered, he saw the small change in seriousness in his younger brother. Though for what reason there were only a few that Vulcan could guess.

"And your father… is doing well?"

"Oh dad… oh much better. He's even back to teaching at Signal again." Ruby said happy to tell people that her father was doing much better.

"Signal huh… I see." Ruby was a bit confused at tone that the Primarch used, it was almost like he wasn't happy to hear that. "Well tell Taiyang that I send my regard, but tell me why you have come."

"Headmaster Ozpin sent me to give this to you." Ruby said as she placed the package on the Primarch's desk.

"Ah, that… thank you Aspirant Rose. You may return to Vale knowing you have completed your mission."

"Um… if it's not too much trouble sir… could I have a bit of help finding my way back out."

"Why does everyone ask for that…" Roboute mumbled to himself after summoning a Servo-Skull. "This will escort you back."

"Thanks." Ruby cheerfully said before leaving the office.

"Brother… what was that about?" Vulcan asked his younger brother.

"It would seem I have to speak with my partner after our meeting."

* * *

Angron – Sins of the Father

Angron was not having the best of days. But then again, he got increasingly pissed and pessimistic around this time of year. It wasn't like any time of the year was good for him, far to many bad memories spread out that time. Last time he count, May was the only month where there wasn't some reminder of his failures or some anniversary that caused him pain.

May was safe… but right now it was November. The month he was kidnapped by Dark Eldar and taken to fighting pits. This was the month that he become a monster. The one good thing about this month was a single memory that told him that he did some good in this world before being turned into the monster he was now.

His thoughts were pulled from one of the few happy memories he had as the sound of his office door opened. Angron quickly shoved the empty bottles off his desk in the rare case that it was one of the few people whose opinion he cared about.

"Brother?" Nope… not even close. "Ah brother, there you are." Angron grumbled as his brother Guilliman popped his head out from the doorframe.

"Rob… why are you here?" Angron growled out to his former partner as the Primarch of the Ultramarines walked into the very messy office of the Athletics Instructor.

"Can you please have some dignity in your work." Roboute said as he looked around the room with a strained look on his face. He always hated Angron's messes. Back when they were at Beacon with Dorn and Perturabo the three of them always cleaned up after Angron. The three clear freaks of the Gold family versus the Gold family slob.

"Why are you here… I'm not in the best of moods."

"When are you in the best of moods these days." It went unsaid that ever since that day Angron had very little to be happy about… except for one thing. And that was what Roboute had come to talk about. "Angron… you and I are partners. We may not be on the same team but we still hold a bond that can not be broken. Even with his betrayal Lorgar is still Vulcan's partner, just as you are mine." Angron growled dangerously as Roboute spoke, the only time the Primarch felt the need to remind the Instructor of their bond was when he about to talk about something that would get **anyone** else killed.

"Hurry up and spit it out!" Angron said as he threw a beer bottle at his former partner's head. Roboute just leaned his head to the right to avoid the bottle.

"Why have yet to inform your daughter of her relation to you." In a instant Angron ripped Gorefather off the wall and swung it down on to the Ultramarine Primarch. The fatal attack only blocked by Roboute's own sword Gladius Incandor. The force of the clash shook the entire building of Beacon to its foundation. The burning hate in the Red Angel's eyes was a sight that Roboute hadn't seen in a very long time.

"You are going to leave now." Angron said, his voice deep and cold. The force of his strike not lessening for a second.

"Stop acting so childish! You need to deal with this instead of stewing in self-hatred and sorrow!" The Primarch yelled as he pushed back the chainaxe in one shift parry. "You must accept what has happened and move past it. For no other reason than for the child's sake."

"She has a father, a better one than a monster like me." Angron said as he threw Gorefather to ground. "As long as she is safe and happy I am content to leave it at that. I will not ruin it for my sake."

"Angron… that might be true for now. But we have learned long ago that truth will come out one way or another. These are the truth of the matter. Summer is dead. You killed her with your own hands. And you and her have a daughter. That is truth."

* * *

Author's Notes

So… what did you guys think… I've had this idea for a long ass time. First I'm going answer three questions, one, Taiyang does not know Ruby is not his biological daughter, two, Angron and Summer's relationship was not in anyway…unfriendly and I will leave it at that because I want to leave it the dark but want I do want to stress it wasn't anything you really need to worry over, Three, Yes… Angron did kill Summer and despite how he feels about it there was a reason for it... Chaos and I'm leaving it at that too.

Next chapter will be a Dance with some Shipping stuff and then we will send the teams on their first live fire mission. An Ork raid on a small town protected by Knights… And there will be a very special Ork in the mix hehehehehe.

Reviews

trickster3696 - Thank you and... well... loved to hear what you think about this

Smurphy1999 - Thank you and Chaos Marks will not be affecting them for the moment, very deeply in their minds so that was just heir character. Just Jaune

37 - PM

BluePanedGasMask - Thank you and I enjoyed writing that very much.

Pacer287 - He's not crazy in this story... he might turn crazy but he isn't now.

Machine90 - SOB no Mars yes. there are female SMs and the church doesn't have legal power so... no SOB

Nemris - Thank you and CRDL will receive someone from another odd numbered team. Aspirants die and they just pair off those that have lost their partner. The older years don't die as often so it tends to work out.


	9. Chapter 9

**_Author's Notes_**

 **Thank you all who reviewed and gave me your reaction to the big WTF moment last chapter. But some of you I think might be mistaking characters for OCs. The only OC I have done as of yet was the Tech-Priest in Nora's story. Everyone else is from somewhere.**

 **And congratulations to Pacer287 for figuring out who Karma is. AC will be staring in this story as pretty much the next generation of Assassinorum Agents, I might do a spin off centering around just them but for now… it will just be Karma.**

 **Also Lecia is Lucius the Eternal gender swapped. She might not be that Canon but I'm taking a lot of liberty with many of characters, like with Lecia she is what Lucius was like before he was turned and then a bit of flirty thrown in for the after corrupted. But again, so far I have only done one OC… if you think I have done another then point them out and if they are I'm wrong but if they are not them I will reply with who they are in Canon.**

 **And a quick note for this chapter, there is a lot of shipping-esc stuff. But do keep in mind that the only pairings I have completely decided on is Ruby/Corvus, and Jaune/Pyrrha. Everyone else is up in the air and might change. Next chapter will have action.**

 **And I now have a Beta. Thank you Ollanius Pious for Beta-ing this story.**

* * *

"Come on! I know you can better than this!" Angron shouted at the first year Aspirants. They had all returned from their holiday and Angron was going to make sure these whelps hadn't gone to soft. "This should be easy!"

"You expect us to pull a boulder!" One of the Aspirants cried out as he tried to push on the ropes that were attached to his boulder. The rest of the class trying hard to do the same… none of them doing much.

"Yes… yes I do." Angron said with a smug frown as he pushed the whining Aspirant to the ground and to the rope from him. The class watched in horror and awe as their Instructor pulled the massive boulder with little effort. "See… Astartes are strong. Even if you join one of the wimpy Legions, you still need to be able to do at least this." They then watched as Angron picked up the boulder and then threw it past the starting line. "Now get back to work, I ain't here to babysit you! I'm here to turn you all into killing machines." He said this but there was a bit of a disconnect as Angron returned to his lawn chair and lemonade.

"Oh come on! You really are going to taunt us like that!" Leman yelled to his older brother who just sipped from his cold drink. "And why does she not have to do this crap?!" Leman pointed to Ruby who was awkwardly sitting next to Angron.

"She is two years younger and is yet to develop the muscle required to do stuff like this." Angron answered before taking another sip. "The Gene-Seed will eventually get her up to speed."

"My ass she's too young! She'd make as much progress as the rest of us!" Leman said motioning to the rest of the class that had yet to pull even past the starting line.

"Are you suggesting favoritism?"

"Nope." Leman quickly snapped back before returning to his wonderful job of pulling a boulder. No one was stupid enough to ever suggest that, doing so guaranteed Angron to be particularly vindictive towards you.

Meanwhile Ruby was sitting back unsure about what was going on. On one hand… she didn't like being treated differently because of her younger age. And on the other… she really did not want to pull a boulder across the training field. Not only that but sitting next to one of the most terrifying men most people would ever see wasn't something she would normally enjoy.

But despite what most people thought about him, Ruby didn't find him all that scary. He could be scary but not all the time. He was the man that was supposed to turn their bodies into superhuman Astartes. He had to be hard and tough on them. And she had heard how he helped her sister on her free time. Instructor Angron was just tough, and sometimes mean but he did care about them… but that was Ruby's opinion. It was an optimistic one but it was hers.

Angron and Ruby continued to watch the rest of the class struggle with their task. Only a few people were about to move their boulder past the chalk line. Angron then proceeded to yell at them for a full ten minutes before dismissing them to the showers.

"Bunch of little shit heads." Angron grumbled to himself as he watched the crowd of tired and slightly angry Aspirants mass to the showers. Angron quickly picked out Aspirant Corax, his hands on his head as his morning migraine hit him. Angron chuckled at that, he was happy that the boy was able to use his power to keep his secret daughter away from preying eyes. There was the very small part of him that knew she would need to eventually take part in the coed showers as there was a real point to them. But that side was smashed down by the rest of him that wanted to skin any boy that so much as looked in her direction. Not just skin alive… but many more painful things that as a narrator and dude, I can't begin to describe. The Red Angel then spotted the last two hold outs of the coed showers rule. "You two finally gonna to do it." The way Angron said the words Do It caused the exact reaction he wanted. With both of them turning around sputtering denials to that accusation. Angron chuckled and then pointed to the showers door. They both quickly realized their misinterpreting of his words and both Jaune and Pyrrha turned very red.

Angron had his little bit of fun and left the two to their indecision over if they were ready to see each other naked. Angron didn't see the big point of it, he had flipped through Bile's notes on the bodies of the class, purely to find material to use for mocking purposes, and neither of those two had anything to be ashamed of… in fact both would cause a bit amount of jealousy from their peers.

"Angron." The Red Angel was snapped out of his musings at the sound of his boss addressing him.

"Headmaster Ozpin." Angron turned around to see the man standing behind him. Angron was no where near as good at sensing people around him as some others but he at least liked to think he could tell when someone was behind him.

"Could you please explain why we are having to inspect the foundation of the castle for cracks."

"I didn't do it." Angron defended himself, even though it was a complete lie.

"Roboute already told me of your confrontation."

"Fucking traitor!" Angron mentally raged. "I will speak to my father and get him to pay for any damages." Angron said hoping that Ozpin would drop the whole thing.

"Angron… you can't keep running from your past, however recent it feels." The only reason why Angron wasn't twisting the man's neck for bringing this topic up was the fact Ozpin had likely many contingency plans in the case of his death. Many of which would involve Angron if it was Angron that did him in.

"We are not talking about this…" Angron said before he tried to storm off only for the walls to close off leaving him no escape. "Oh yeah… forgot you control this place like it was your own body." Angron eyed the Headmaster's cane, an artifact that allowed the user mental control of Beacon. Ozpin just gave back his trademarked blank stare, as if nothing was wrong.

"The only reason why I have yet to tell Ruby of your connection to her…" In a flash a wall formed out of the floor to block the punch Angron intended for Ozpin. The Red Angel's fist was at least successful in breaking through the solid wall. "… is because I feel that it is your secret to tell. But I still believe that you should tell her."

"Tell her what, oh hey you've only know me for three months but I'm actually your dad and the guy you thought was your dad was just the man your mother married because she pitied him."

"Now you know that last part isn't the complete truth." Ozpin scolded.

"Nope… I stand by that statement."

"Well then we are going to have agree to disagree on that. But you need to tell her. Keeping this secret will not protect her from those who know. They will use this against you and use it to control her. She already is in enough danger." Angron glared at the headmaster, he knew what Ozpin said was true, but that didn't mean he was right.

"I'm not telling her. I'll tell you what I told Rob, she is better off without me." With that he kicked down the wall that had been preventing his escape, the fact he broke his leg to do was worth not talking about this anymore.

* * *

"Why are you smiling?" Megan asked her brother, it was the kind of smile that she hated because it always came with news that made her hate her own gender.

"I'm taking two chicks to the dance!" Leman said with thumps up and a huge grin one second and then the next he was slammed down into the table by a shift hit to the head by Megan's book.

"You really disgust me." Megan groaned as she tried to relieve a bit of the building stress.

"Leman's questionable attitude aside, he does bring up an important point. Plans for the upcoming dance." Blake pointed out but not exactly sure why given that she had no date. She hadn't really given much thought to dating after the mess that was Adam.

"Yeah! It's going to be great." Yang said clearly excited for the upcoming event.

"So you have a date?" Megan said not taking her eye off her book.

"Well no but you don't need a date to have fun." At that comment Fulgrim gasped.

"How could say something so heartless, a school dance is for those young and in love. A time for memories to be made and joy to be shared." Fulgrim continued to talk but was promptly ignored.

"So Yang is single, I'm all set…" Leman dodged the large book this time. "… and Weiss is going with Garviel…"

"Hey, who told you that?" Weiss demanded, a slight a minor reddening across her face.

"Bjorn."

"And how did he find out?"

"Lecia told him. You see lass, we Wulfen dudes have an effect on you ladies. You tend to spill ya guts… and drop your pants…" It was at that comment that Megan dropped her very heavy book on Leman's lap, sending the Wulfen to the floor in pain.

"Okay… now that that has been rectified. Congratulations Weiss for getting a date for the dance." Megan said then turned to team JNPR who was now all in attendance at the table. Jaune and Pyrrha no longer banished. Megan and the rest of the friends gave them a look that said I assume you two are going together. Their reaction was predictable, Megan knew the soon to be couple had yet to officially declare themselves together, the dance was simply the perfect opportunity.

"What about you?" Yang asked Megan, the one eyed girl simply pointed to Ren who nodded in confirmation. "You two?! Really?"

"Hold it, it's more like we are using each other. We don't want to deal with people asking us so we're going together but not together."

"Oh…" Yang groaned slightly before looking to Nora.

"Ollanius says no dating until I get my grades up." Nora pouted.

"So that leaves…" Megan grinned as she turned to her partner and Ruby. Ruby playing with her fingers and trying to be as small as she could while Corvus was just eating his breakfast ignoring them all. "Well?" Megan asked and Corvus sighed… he knew they weren't going to let this go. So he set down his fork and knife and after cracking his neck and breathing in deep, he was ready.

"Schools dances are nothing but society's way of shaming anyone that is not part of the status quo of pairing off two by two. It encourages the stereotype that a guy needs to be able to catch a girl and that girls' identities are tried to what man they have. Women do not need men and men do not need to conquer women. A school dance is nothing more than symbol of archaic practices filled travesty and I will not support it!" Corvus ended his speech with a slam on the table before returning to his breakfast.

"Ah huh… it has nothing to do with the fact you are a lazy bastard that couldn't ever hope to work up the effort to ask anyone out?" Megan asked, she knew the answer to that and the smirk she had on her face showed that fact.

"That too but mostly the thing about gender roles I said before. Plus I'm not going to be here that night, I'm heading into Vale to pack up my stuff."

"Why would you need to do that?"

"Because I made a deal with Ozpin, he said if I kept my grades up above a C- then he would put me on a program for less than well off Aspirants. The program sets me up with a nice condo out in the decent part of the middle hive. You took me to your place so I couldn't move my stuff during the holidays so I have to do it on the night of the dance."

"I didn't know you had a place, I just thought you were homeless." Yang prodded much to Corvus' ire.

"I am not homeless."

"You slept on our couch until we came here."

"I live in the lower hive of Vale. I was in Patch for… reasons. But did you really expect me to head back to Vale. It was only three days anyways."

"You think you're going to be able to move everything in one night." Blake said trying to move the conversion back to more friendly grounds.

"Doubt it… believe it or not I have a ton of stuff. Any help would be nice but you all are going to the dance…

"I'm not." Ruby interrupted, a small piece of her that was the confident growing young woman had seen a chance and was going take no matter what the rest of her normally shy and awkward self said.

"Oh… if you could help that would be great." Corvus said not seeing anything beyond the surface of the statement.

* * *

 ** _Later that night_**.

"I'm not doing it." Taldeer stated firmly.

"You are the only one, everyone else is on assignment." Ozpin pointed out.

"I'm not doing it… I have plans."

"Plans that are personal, plans that can be changed." Ozpin countered.

"So, I'm suppose to drop my plans just to watch one first year move from the lower hive to the middle?" This whole business with Aspirant Corax confused the Eldar Instructor. First off, she had never heard of this program that the Aspirant was befitting from. Next was the Headmaster's interest in him, Ruby Rose was one thing, but admitting Corvus Corax into Beacon was strange. It is true that he holds a very powerful Semblance but everything else about him was completely unremarkable.

"Yes." Ozpin answered simply. "By the way, Master Malcador asked me to pass along a message to you, he would prefer that did not send those type of photos to the temple as he currently training the next generation and they are still young and impressionable." Ozpin smiled at the rare sight of a Eldar flustered and embarrassed.

"What?! I don't know you're talking about." Taldeer defend herself while on the inside very much dreading the idea of some snot nosed kids obtaining those photos.

"Thankfully only three boys had access to them before being caught by some of girls at the temple… I'm told the beating they received was Angron level severe." That made Taldeer so much more content, it also continued to prove her personal belief that the females of the human race were far superior to the males… but then again there were always exceptions to the rule. "And I currently am in possession of those photos… I have yet to look at them by the way."

"Thank you… you better not be lying."

"I'm not… but… these photos might end up in Bile's medical files… what happens when he finds them is beyond my control." Ozpin calmly threatened. Taldeer's face paled at the thought of Fabius having anything like on her.

"Fine! I'll watch the kid and make sure he's okay."

* * *

"Are you sure that you don't want to come to the dance?" Yang asked her sister as she continued to brash out her hair, it took forever to keep it looking good but when it was all finished it just reminded Yang why she kept it this way. Blake had already left and so now it was just Ruby, Yang and Weiss who was waiting for her date.

"And have to wear those stupid heels, no way." Ruby replied as she kicked her feet off her bed. Unlike the rest of team RWBY, Ruby was still in her normal clothes while the rest had changed or was currently changing into their dresses. "Besides, Corvus needs help and as his friend I will help him." Ruby said proudly.

"Are you sure that's all?" Yang slyly prodded her sister.

"Yeah… what else is there?" Ruby innocently countered, a small part of her knew what Yang meant though.

"Oh nothing…" Yang trailed off before finishing her brushing. "There, all done. And now…" Right then there was a knock at the door.

"That's probably is Garviel." Weiss said with a smile that slightly irked the dateless member of the team. Whether Weiss noticed this or not was apparent as she opened the door for her date. Garviel was about the tallest Aspirant in their year, only Cardin when he was alive and Bjorn matched him. His face was still young but was already growing into the handsome man he likely would grow up to be. His attire was well suited to the night, not too formal but dashing enough.

"Weiss." Garviel said as he nodded to his date, it was apparently all they were going to get. Weiss had been warned that he was a man of few words and she was fine with that, having been around boys that never shut up about themselves made Garviel's quiet nature a nice change of pace.

"I will see you all later tonight…" Weiss said to her team before starting her way out with her date but…

"Wait!" Ruby yelled out before dashing over to Weiss' date. "As Weiss' partner it is my duty to make sure that she is treated with respect and care she deserves." Ruby said up to the taller Aspirant, she was trying her best impression of her and Yang's dad when Yang went out on a date back in Patch. "Mr. Garviel, do you promise to be a utmost gentleman to my partner?" The rest of team RWBY looked on the display in minor shock while Garviel lightly chuckled.

"You have a excellent partner Weiss, Yes Ms. Rose I promise to treat Weiss with as only a true gentleman would." Garviel said with a slight bow.

"Good, you may leave now." Ruby said as she motioned for Weiss to join Garviel. Weiss was unsure to be happy that her partner cared so much, embarrassed for what she just did, or mad that Ruby butted in. In the end Weiss chose the first option as that had the least amount of extra thought.

"Thank you Ruby." Weiss said this but her tone suggested that she was not assumed by the antics of her partner. The two began walking off to the dance, Ruby and Yang watching them until they turned the hallway corner. Once they did so Yang began laughing.

"Good job Ruby!" Yang laughed. "That was so awesome! I swear I was having flash backs to Dad staring down my dates." Yang took a deep breath before continuing. "Seriously where did that come from sis?"

"I don't know… I just wanted to make sure that Weiss was happy. She is my partner, don't you want to make sure that Blake is happy?" That had Yang stopping completely in her laughter. It was true that Yang wanted Blake to be happy, the Astartes brotherhood pact was damn effective in making partners grow closer. So Yang did care about Blake, but she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about being single when everyone was making such a big deal about dating. Corvus was starting to sound less crazy about the whole thing. "Yang? You okay?" Ruby asked as she moved up to her sister.

"Oh… yeah… just thinking." Yang said before returning to her carefree personality. "Well I think I'm all ready." Yang said before checking herself one last time and then began heading to the door. But the second she opened the door she was met with the cold evil eyes of madness itself.

"Hey Yang." Corvus said as his eye twitched due to the hard glare Yang was giving his pet Nevermore.

"Hi Corvus…" Yang said, her eyes never leaving the Grimm on the boy's shoulder. She had spent far to much time on her hair to let Deliverance ruin it.

"You look nice."

"Oh… thank you." Yang said a little shocked.

"Yup, great job objectifying yourself to nothing more than a piece of meat for the masses to judge and gawk at." Corvus said knowing what he just did.

"Yeah… you're still Corvus alright." Yang grumbled as Corvus walked past her and into the RWBY dorm.

"Hey Corvus, I'm all set to help you move." Ruby announced as she jumped into the air.

"Yay…" Corvus said with not nearly as much enthusiasm as Ruby.

"You better make sure my sister doesn't get mugged or something." Yang said slightly serous.

"It's not like we're going to the Under-Hive, and I live in a… well there aren't that many muggings." Corvus admitted. "The local gangs don't mess with you so long as you pay protection and they do a decent job at keeping the local addicts confined to just a few Hab-Blocks. And people know me so I doubt they would mess with Ruby as long as she's with me. And when we get jumped I can just make us disappear." Ruby and Yang both stared at Corvus, both just got a small window into what Corvus life was like before Beacon, and it both made them slightly more understanding of him and also very saddening. The way he talked about it so casually like how he didn't even seem concerned about say when they would get jumped instead of if… the sisters now felt genuinely concerned for Corvus and happy that he was now leaving such a dangerous place. Corvus then noticed the stares the two girls were giving him though he didn't understood what the meant. "What?"

"Oh, nothing just surprised." Yang covered before remembering her plans for the night. "You two be safe and Corvus if you make a move on Ruby I will hunt you down to the ends of Remnant." That last part had been said so fast as Yang exited the room that the neither Corvus or Ruby were able to respond.

"Why does she have to say things like that?" Corvus grumbled not noticing the blush that Ruby had under her hood. "Whatever… we should get going before it gets too late." Corvus said still oblivious to red faced girl behind him.

* * *

"Okay everyone shut up!" Flint said before discharging a round of his bolt pistol. The Great Hall went completely quiet at that. "Good, now first before we get this dance started. A round of applause for the Vytal Dance decoration committee." Flint motioned to the five Aspirants standing at the front of the crowd, Fulgrim being in front of them and wearing a very smug smile on his face. Flint waited for the clapping to end before continuing. "Second, if I hear of any… disreputable behavior then the culprits will be getting a nice beating delivered by yours truly. Thirdly… I want you all to remember that Astartes do anything better than mortal men… including partying!" Flint chuckled before letting the band start playing. The crowd of teens gave a slight pity laugh before starting their fun.

"That was awful." Angron said as Flint stepped off the stage.

"Well I couldn't leave them on beatings could I? This is a dance after all." Flint retorted, he maybe a Commissar but he was for all intents and purposes a retired one. When one gets to a certain age as a Commissar you have really three options when it comes to post tour life. And these are the options to those that didn't get famous like Cain.

First you could teach the next generation of Commissars, not nearly as well paid as his current job and you were still expected to do a little field work no wand then when you would take ready cadets for their first battlefield missions.

Second you could become a Politician. Troops might hate Commissars but the common people love them. Made getting into the political world very easy as Commissars were easy to put into mid level positions. People higher up got a hard working and loyal worker and got to look good for bringing in a Commissar. Those same people had a tendency to forget that Commissars are loyal to the Imperium and not individual people and so if you tried to bribe a former Commissar you were gambling with your life as not all of them lost the Right of Execution.

And lastly you could become a Commissar to a Legion. It was a new position, created by Primarch Yarrick. With the betrayal of the Word Bears Legion and the founding of the Armageddon Steel Legion, it was obvious that there needed to be a way to prevent this from happening again. So the newly appointed Primarch Yarrick set up a new position a legion Commissar. While the Champlain would keep the Astartes in the legion to the standards of the Legion and keep the moral high. It was decided that outsider should be the one to watch for corruption in the ranks.

But Flint lucked out, he got the most prized job any Commissar could ever dream of. Nannying a bunch of teenagers that were being trained to be absolute killing machines. Not only was it thee best paying job out there but it was safe and quiet for the most part. And you still served the Imperium in a meaningful way. By making sure that the stupid and useless don't become the Emperor's Finest.

And right now he was chaperoning the next generation of the Emperor's Finest while they danced and did things that were considered normal for people their age. It was thought to be important that the Aspirants have moments like these, to give them some doses of normalcy so that they might better connect with the mortal men of the Imperium. So far the theory had proven sound, ever since the schools had started doing these doses of normalcy the out coming generations of Astartes that received them had a dramatic difference in complaints against their behavior as opposed to the older generations.

"I would have…" Angron's grumblings brought Flint out of his thoughts.

"That's because you are a wet blanket of unimaginable proportions." Gebren Silver chuckled as he joined his fellow chaperons.

"And that's coming from a former Iron Hands." Flint pointed out much to Angron's annoyance. The Athletic Instructor continued to grumble while Flint gazed over the crowd of teens. He made a mental check list of the those that he needed to watch out for. "Jehudiel is hanging out by the refreshments… but his partner is with him so she should be able to keep him from spiking the punch. Ivory is… I will need to raid their room later, because I am sure that is what I think it is. Leman is… good Emperor that boy is going to get himself Fixed one of these days and I'm sure his sister will be the one to do it. Ame is currently dancing and staying away from Ansiel so that's good." Flint took off his cap and ran his hand through his hair. It had yet to start to gray not that he cared. He wasn't in keeping up his appearance, the scars and fatigue that shown on his face had made that prospect pointless.

"Years starting to get on you?" Flint looked to his side and saw Vice-Headmistress Goodwitch standing next to him.

"Not at all, I will be kicking these kids around for years to come Vice-Headmistress Goodwitch."

"Flint, we've known each other for years, you can address me by first name you know."

"That's just not how my mind works, you're my superior and as such I must address you accordingly." She then gave a small sigh, Flint was stupid but his Commissar training was far to ingrained for him to act on the invitation.

* * *

Megan watched as her friends and Weiss danced in the middle of the Great Hall. The dress she had chosen to wear was lacking in any way to smuggle in a book so she was stuck without something to do. If had known that this was going to be as boring as it was she would have joined Corvus and Ruby.

"I think our plan worked out a little too well." Megan quietly laughed as she turned to her date.

"Agreed." Ren sighed.

* * *

"Fucking damn it!" Corvus yelled before he finally lost his patience and kicked the door to his condo down. "That's better." Corvus sighed as he walked in, Deliverance flying off his shoulder and onto its perch.

"Um… don't you think your landlord is going to get mad at you for that?" Ruby asked as she walked in after Corvus. His condo was not exactly what she was expecting, or more like it was exactly what she had been hoping it wasn't. It was dirty and filled junk from old take out boxes to clothes that looked like they hadn't been worn in years. But not only that, the building itself was a wreak, holes in the walls, lighting that flickered on and off, a smell that Ruby was sure was some kind of mold, and from the look on the sink she was sure that the water was far from clean. Ruby was increasingly worrying for her friend for the state in which he lived in before he attended Beacon. It made her almost glad that he spent so much time locked up instead of here in this filth.

"Nah… I could care less what that bastard thinks. I'm getting out of this dump and into the middle hive." The Hives of Vale, Vacuo, Mistral, and Cadia were all built as sky high man made mountains of buildings. There was the outer city that was house in the first walls separating the Hives from wilderness. It was this area that could be referred to a suburban area but it was more like a strange fusion between urban and suburban. Then there was the lower hive, it was here that much of the population of the Hive lived and worked, crime was around and plain view in the worst areas of the lower Hive but these weren't that prevalent. Most of the lower hive contained the working class of the Imperium, hard working people that worked the factories. The next was middle hive, it was here that the middle class of the Imperium lived, the families of the Guard, merchants, employees of the corporations and the Administratum, and various other areas beyond the blue collar work of the lower hive. Then there were the Spires of the Upper Hive, were nobility and the wealthy live. A playground for those that money is no issue.

But then there was also the Under-Hive. This was the name given to the subterranean city that lived under the Hive. Here lived the outcasts of the Imperial Population. It was a lawless place were the only rule was how much firepower you had mattered. You had a bigger gun then the other guy, it meant you were right in everything and he was wrong.

"I'm sure it will be great for you when we get out of Beacon for the spring." Unlike most schools Astartes school vacations are only a single month and start at the opposite season the school year began. Beacon starts in the fall so they got April off.

"Oh yeah, it will also be great with the money this program will be giving me too. No more stealing meals, I can actually buy food on a regular basis." Again… Ruby's heart just cracked a little more. Less that he wasn't able to eat every day but it was how he saw it as a normal thing for him. Most people she knew simply expected that they would eat everyday but for Corvus it was really big news.

"Is it like this for everyone in the lower hive?" Ruby thought to herself as she looked over the piles of junk that littered Corvus' so to be former home.

* * *

Yang watched from the sidelines as she watched her class and the upper classes dance and mingle. It was nice to see everyone like this, normally everyone was either studying or training. Neither were very socially encouraging environments. But somehow people still made friends beyond their teams, and even more so within their teams.

Yang then suddenly heard the sound of hard slap nearby. She turned her head to see Leman on the ground and the two girls he had brought leaving, both of them look quite pissed off.

"Well I lost that bet, he didn't last as long as thought he would have." Yang sighed at the sounds of Leman getting up and running after the girls. She knew that it would not end well for the Wulfen.

Yang then returned to her observing of the student body. Normally she was the life of a party, but there had been very little opportunity her Yang. This dance wasn't the kind of party that she could enjoyed on her own. Again she was finding herself agreeing with Corvus, things like this really did make you feel like crap if you didn't have someone with you.

Yang looked over to Weiss who was enjoying a dance with Garviel. The two of them looked like they were having a good time, they lacked a certain spark that told Yang that it was very likely that they would enjoy this time and then be done. Nice memories but nothing more. Not at all like Jaune and Pyrrha. Yang smiled as she watched the pair dance, they certainly had that spark that was clear to everyone.

Yang's smile dropped when she noticed that she couldn't find her partner. She had seen Blake at the start of the dance but then she was gone. Not on the dance floor or anywhere else around the Great Hall. Yang moved through the mass of people to the entrance while scanning the tops of people's heads looking for the bow of her partner. Finding that she couldn't find Blake Yang left the Great Hall. Yang left the dance in search of her Faunas partner. Yang looked around the grounds of Beacon but couldn't find Blake anywhere.

"Got'ch!" On reflex Yang turned around and punched the source of the sound. Punching the very hard face of Grunto, Beacon's all-purpose Ork. "ARH! You little git!"

"Hey, you were the one that snuck up on me."

"You'ze suppose to be in da Hall, not out here." Grunto grumbled as he rubbed his face.

"I'm looking for my friend okay."

"I keeps tellin' you'ze all to stay in da hall, that's what da Boss said."

"Well my friend isn't in the Hall." Yang said trying to use the Ork's logic against him. Can Orks have logic… hm… yeah… ork logic.

"Oh! Then letz find dem then…" the ork leaned in close to Yang. "So youz can go back in da Hall." Yang winced at the smell of the Ork's breath.

"Yes… so we can go back in da Hall." Yang replied back as she followed the Ork.

* * *

Leman was wandering around the grounds looking for his lady friends. He didn't do anything that bad… just merely suggested the possibly of a three-way. But apparently the two girls more only going along with Leman's two date idea to try and out do the other and get Leman all to himself. So when he suggested his idea to them it made them realize that Leman wasn't likely to choose just one of them. So now he was trying to either of them and he would stick to that one.

"Maybe Megan is right… this whole idea is kinda turning to shit." Leman grumbled before looking around, his Wulfen night vision letting him notice that there was someone out on the Valkyrie pads. It looked like a girl, sitting on the ledge letting her legs hang off the side. Leman couldn't tell if it was one of his girls but it was the first girl he had found. As he walked up the ramp to the pad he noticed the familiar bow of the secret Faunus. "Ehy… what'ch doing out er?" Leman said as he approached Blake.

"Nothing much… where'd your dates go?"

"They kinda dumped me. It's cool though… plenty more ladies want a piece of me." Leman said like he was trying to play off the whole thing.

"I'm sure they are…" Blake said as she returned to her sight. The Hive City of Vale was off in the distance. The lights of the massive mountain of buildings shown through the night like a its very own beacon.

"Hey… why the long face kitty cat." Leman said as he joined Blake. She slightly glared at him for the name but she didn't really care. no one else was around and Leman was just being Leman.

"It's nothing… just seeing all these couples…"

"Made you think of him?" Leman finished for Blake. "Egh… your better off without that bastard."

"I seem to remember the last time we were talking about this we ended up close to fighting."

"I said I was sorry."

"After Yang tracked you down and forced you to."

"I would have done it on my own… at some point." Leman tried but even knew that it just wasn't in his nature to feel remorse for such things. "You really have a… forceful partner you know that right?"

"Yeah I know…" Blake smiled at the decently accurate description of her partner. Yang was nothing Blake, she was loud and full of life, cheery and slightly naive. But Blake couldn't help but admire her, she was so confident in everything she did, and she always tried to pull Blake out of her less then best days, when something had reminded Blake of Adam or the White Fang. Yang would drag the Faunus out of the black hole she would often throw herself in.

Blake hen looked over to Leman. He would also do that from time to time. Sure he would often refocus her depression into anger for something he said or did but whether he did this on purpose she didn't know. It was the same for many of her friends, they all helped in their own ways. Helping her grow beyond the last few years in the White Fang. But it had been mostly Yang and to a lesser extent Leman.

But then she noticed he was squinting at her, as if trying to figure something out.

"What?" Blake asked unprepared for what he was about to say as she had just come out of thinking highly of the Wulfen.

"I think you looked better when I was drunk…" That had snapped Blake out of her praising him. Blake promptly slapped him, thankfully back into the pad instead of off the side of the cliff and stood up to leave the rude boy in a huff. "Damn… was channeling my inner Dorn."

Blake stormed off, her mind filled if swearing and curses at Leman. It wasn't so much that he insulted her, well it was that very much but not as much as the fact he had made her feel like he cared before being the inconsiderate jackass he was. Some small part of Blake knew that Leman's lack of social graces was because he was literally raised by wolves but that part of her was quiet right now.

"Dar' youz are!" Blake heard before being yanked up in the air. "Youz not supposed to bes outside." The Beacon Ork grunted into Blake's face.

"Hey put her down." Blake looked over and saw Yang standing behind her. Grunto grumbled a bit before genteelly dropping Blake down to the ground.

"Now youz two goes back to da Hall." While it sounded like a order, the Ork's face made Blake think it was more like a question.

"Yes we will, now you get back to interrupting moments between couples." Yang half joked, the Ork just did a small chuckle like it would enjoy doing that very much. Yang took Blake's hand and the two quickly ran off to the entrance of the Great Hall. "There, now…" Yang said before turning to her partner. "Where were you?!"

"Oh…" Blake was a little shocked but Yang's worry. "… I just felt this wasn't very fun all by myself so I snuck out to enjoy the view." Blake nodded to the Hive City of vale off in the distance.

"Really? I mean I get it. I was thinking the same thing. As much as I hate to say it… but Corvus was right. Unless you have a date this whole thing makes you feel like crap."

"Wow… admitting Corvus is right, that's big for you." Blake jokingly jabbed her partner.

"Yeah yeah… so what do say we ditch this scene and watch shitty movies in our dorm."

"That sounds really great actually." Blake decided to leave out the whole thing with Leman considering Yang was likely to throw him off the cliff for what he said.

* * *

"And that's the last of it." Corvus said as he threw the last of what was in the useless junk pile out the window and on to some passerby. He then looked over to the pile that was filled with junk that he still needed. Ruby was currently working on packing everything up into boxes.

"Um… Corvus… do you really need thirty jars of bottle caps?" Ruby asked as she tried to figure out how to fit said jars into one box.

"Yes! Bottle caps are great for distracting people and making them leave to go off and investigate." Corvus replied. "Now let's hurry and get this stuff down to the moving van." Corvus said as he picked up one of the packed boxes.

"Hello? You in here little birdy?" Both Corvus and Ruby looked to the front door where three men now were walking into the apartment. The smaller middle man was the one who was speaking. By his ears, Ruby guessed he was a Eldar, but he lacked the grace Instructor Taldeer had. The other two looked to be nothing more than Thug one and two.

"Del'un." Corvus addressed the Eldar. "Get out, I'm leaving so you are even less than a thought to me at this point." Corvus waved the three men to the door telling them to leave. But this just made the gang leader chuckle.

"Leave? You can't leave. We have a deal. You don't pay protection money and you do favors for us. Helping the community and stuff like that." Ruby could easily tell that what the Eldar said was far from the truth. But it worried her that her friend might have had to even worse things than she already suspected.

"Tch…" Corvus dug in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "See here, I have a new deal with Beacon. The kind that make me above you. If the Arbites come, they won't be arresting me for kicking your ass." Corvus said as he showed off his Beacon ID. The Eldar's smug smile left his face and was replaced with a look of disgust.

"You! An Astartes? Ha, not likely little birdy. You just tryin' out a new way out of your commitments…" The Eldar looked over to Ruby. "I could forgive you… for the girl." One of the brutes of meat began moving toward Ruby. Ruby was about to show these jerks that she wasn't some helpless girl but a Astartes in training. But Corvus stopped her by stepping between her and the thug.

"Not even a single change in the warp you are touching her."

"Now now Corvus, I need something to recoup my losses. You've been gone these months and I rely on the income you provide. I know sevreal customers who are very in to the young look. I can even give you a percent of the profit… its nothing you haven't done before." At that Corvus had a knife to Del'un's neck.

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't finish you right now." Corvus growled out.

"Because you know that you're going to be right back here one day. And on that day you will need me more than I need you." Corvus mind was going at hundred times faster than a normal person's. He was thinking over the facts, that was what he did when he felt he was at a crossroad. Fact, he was becoming a Astartes. Fact he would not be arrested for murder for killing Del'un and his thugs. Fact, Del'un was a underboss favored by the local Don. Fact, Del'un had information on Corvus that Corvus would prefer not be known by people he had come to care about. Fact, Ruby was right here and he didn't want her to see him kill in cold blood. Corvus dropped the knife and settled for a fist to the eye instead.

"Fuckin' Mon-keigh! You will regret that." If there was one thing all Eldar shared was a love of a unblemished face. And the black eye Corvus had just given him marred the Eldar's face quite clearly. "I don't care who you think you are but I will find you and I will return this insult tenfold." Del'un said before he walked out of the apartment with his thugs behind him. Corvus and Ruby watched and waited a bit before speaking again.

"Um… Corvus…" Ruby started.

"Sorry… I was hoping that everyone was still a little distracted by the holidays to really notice us." Corvus said as he returned to boxing up his stuff, a little faster than he was before. Ruby walked over to the former criminal and lowered next to him.

"Corvus… you don't need to say anything. I know you have had a hard life… but I know you are a good person."

"No I'm not!" Corvus yelled not looking up to Ruby. "I'm not… there is a reason Ozpin needed to make a special case for me. I doubt he had any problem getting the Astartes to accepting you early but for me… I'm sure he had to pull so many strings to have them even look at me let alone accept me. I've done things that landed me in jail for a reason."

"But you accepted to come to Beacon. You wanted to be better than what you thought you were."

"I joined because I was sick of prison food and people trying to shank me on daily basis." Corvus bluntly replied. "Ruby… you want to know what I was thinking when I first saw Roman and those goons enter that shop… I was wondering if I could join them." That made Ruby pause still.

"Even so… I still think you are a good person. You help everyone and all you talk about is what is wrong with the Imperium, you know what is wrong… that's the first step in changing it. I don't think you're a bad person… even if you think so."

* * *

"Summer?" Angron felt… strange. Like some phantom reminder of the past had reached out to him. "No… it was nothing." Angron shook the feeling off and continued to glare at the dancing student body daring them to go further than they were allowed.

* * *

Taldeer watched the two Aspirants from the scope of her Vindicare sniper from the window of the apartment complex across the street. She had watched the altercation between Aspirant Corax and the piece of trash that dare call itself one of her kin.

"He handled it well." Taldeer said as she pulled the sniper off from the ledge. The kids would be fine form here on out. She knew that she wasn't needed at all. Angron may be a rage addicted bastard but he knew how to train these Aspirants to the fullest. But this still felt off to Taldeer, why was Ozpin taking such a big interest in Corvus Corax.

She continued to watch the two teens after they finished their packing. She couldn't tell the state of the boy from his facial features but the girl seemed… not happy but a mixed of pleased and concerned. They both finished placing boxes in the moving van and after closing it up the girl got in. Corvus however went back inside, after a few minutes he came back running out the doors and jumped into the moving van. Soon a Beastman, that Taldeer knew from the dossier on Corvus was his landlord, came running out yelling at the boy.

* * *

 _Codex-Astartes for the Common Man_

 _By Roboute Guilliman_

 _Based_ _off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman_

 _Chapter Thirty Six, The Eye Of Terror_

Surrounded by all sides by raising spiked mountains. The crater that is the known to the Imperium as the Eye of Terror is a land of corruption and evil. Contained only by the Iron Cage mountain rage and the Hive-City of Cadia guardian the only path out of the land. Grimm constantly venture out of the madding place in search of strife to sow. the lands around the base of the Iron Cage Mountains are blasted craters created by artillery shells from Cadia.

The only truly safe way out and into the lands of the Eye is the Gate of Cadia. a small empty space between the jagged spikes of rock that keep the rest of the Eye barred from the world. It is here that the Imperium fights off the massive Black Floods of Grimm that are launched by the Daemon Princes of the Grimm Gods.

The Eye was formed from the birth of the Great Grimm God Malal in the first moments of the Long Night. And it is now a sea of darkness. a place filled with the madding powers of the Grimm. A place that no sane man could ever venture into and come out uncorrupted.

(Think Mordor but Chaos and Grimm)

* * *

 ** _Author Notes_**

 **I am posting a poll to decided which of the following pairing I should do. Blake/Yang, Blake/Leman, or…. Blake/Yang/Leman.**

 **Reviews**

 **Darkerpaths – Thank you, and sorry for more shipping but this ended up being longer than I thought it would. Next chapter will be action.**

 **Mr. Green37 – PM**

 **Pacer287 – Thank you, and finally someone recognized Karma. Internet cookies for you.**

 **Trickster3696 – thank you, and no… ruby will not be involved with the BA at all.**

 **Nemris – thank you, and Sevatar is the first captain of the Night Lords and will be something of a mentor to Weiss… but Night Lords style.**

 **Ollanius Pious – PM (new Beta yay)**


	10. Chapter 10

Ruby was clinging to her seat as flack exploded all around their Valkyrie. She and her team, along with team JNPR and team CRML were sitting in the transport as it flew through the air taking them to their first Live Fire Mission. She had been so excited at the prospect of being part of a real battle. Even if the battle was already over and the enemy was retreating.

Next to her was her sister he was practically bouncing in her seat at the chance to finally fight the enemies of the Imperium. On Ruby's other side, Weiss was trying her best to hide her fear and discomfort. Next to Yang Blake was calm and collected, if Ruby had to guess this wasn't the first time Blake had been under flack fire.

Across from her Jaune was holding so tight to his restraints that Ruby was sure they might be slightly dented. Ruby felt a bit sorry for her fellow team leader. Next to him Pyrrha was doing only a little better, but it was clear that she was close to being a bit sick form all the movement. Ren was just as still as Blake, and Nora was just as excited as Yang.

Then sitting up to the back of the hull was team CRML. Ruby could be sure that Corvus was sleeping this whole thing off, how she didn't know, but she was of it. Megan was in the nervous camp if the consent mumbling of 'We're going to die' was anything to go by. Surprisingly Fulgrim was remarkable adjusted to the whole thing. And Leman was… Ruby was pretty sure he might be out cold.

"Okay kiddies…" In the middle of the hull a hologram of Commissar Flint flickered into view. "… this is your first Live Fire Mission, sixty three hours ago the Town of Slausbough had been besieged by Orks, this was a stupid move as this town is protected by Knight House Hawkshroud. The Knight House sent two Knights in response and with them came three companies of Vale Praetorian Guard and four squads of Blood Angels, so for us the battle is basically over. The Orks have been beaten back but… these are Orks. And the attacking tribe is the Groffs, so… there's a lot of them." Flint sighed. "Right now, Knight lord and lady Seriths are handling the bulk of what is left of the horde. Your job is to hang on the flanks and handle the bands of orks that try to flank around. Your three teams are to report to Sergeant Hookroot, he'll be your commanding officer for the remainder of the battle. Good luck out their Aspirants and don't die… I have enough paper work to deal with already." With that the Commissar flickered out of view.

"Landing zone in sight!" The pilot yelled back to the teams. There was a bit of rough bumps as the air transport flew back down to the surface. Ruby only opened her eyes once the sound of the boarding ramp started to extend down. Ruby quickly undid her safety harness and rushed out of the Valkyrie.

"Land! How I missed you!" She yelled out as she touched the ground with her mask as if she was kissing the ground. Jaune and Megan both ran out of the airship, the rest of Aspirants all followed their more grateful companions with Leman stumbling out last. When Ruby finally looked back up she was amazed at the sight before her. She was standing in a real Imperial Guard encampment. It was a box of sand bags, defense lines, and barbwire with a machine gun tower at each corner and three small pre-fabricated bunkers in the middle set up in a triangle. All around them were men and women of the guard in the standard Vale Praetorian uniform. But to Ruby's surprise, many of them were glaring at the Aspirants.

"Um… I don't think they are happy to see us." Jaune said nervously. The Aspirants quickly moved towards the bunkers in hopes of finding their commanding officer. The went straight to the bunker with the guard outside.

"Halt, State rank and purpose." The guard said as he stopped the Aspirants at the door.

"Aspirant Squad leader Ruby Rose." Ruby said giving a quick salute. "We are here to report to sergeant Hookroot for orders." The guard scowled at the teens and with a quick grunt opened the door and led them inside.

"Sergeant Hookroot, the Aspirants have arrived." He said as he entered with the Aspirants following him in. Ruby quickly took in everything, it was dark with the only light coming from the open door, the few terminals turned on, and the holo-table detailing the battlefield. And standing over the holo-table were three men, the first looked to be a Administratum official if his clothing and auto-quill were anything to go by. The sight of him made the fact the battle was already over that much for apparent to the Aspirants. The second man was a normal man in a Vale Praetorian uniform, they all quickly assumed that he was the sergeant but it was the third person that was the one to turn around and approach them.

"Is that so…" They all looked up to the Beastmen in a slightly looser version of the standard Vale Praetorian uniform. He was a Gor, a full blooded Beastman. Cloven feet, fur over his legs and lower body, huge strong arms, goat face, and large curled horns. "… something you'd like to say?" His voice was deep and rough but it clearly commanded authority. The Aspirants all quickly shook themselves out of their shock.

"No sir, Aspirant Teams, RWBY, JNPR, and CRML awaiting orders." Corvus said before any of them could make the mistake of pointing out the stupidly obvious fact he was a Beastmen. Corvus had lived with Gors, Ungors, and all other strains of Beastmen long enough to know that one thing they all hate is baseline humans pointing out that they are different. Sergeant Hookroot grunted approvingly and motioned for the three leaders to join him at the Holo-table. Ruby, Jaune, and Corvus.

"I won't lie, I and the rest of my men aren't happy to have you here with us." Sergeant Hookroot said as he and the other guardsmen glared at the three. "Aspirants are known in the Guard as disaster magnets. You all have a talent at making what should be casualty free assignments into bloodbaths." Ruby and Jaune began to shrink from the glares they were getting while Corvus shrugged it off. "But I need to use everything I can. Felix." The sergeant nodded to the man next to him.

"Lord and Lady Seriths are handling the orks…" The Holo-table moved to show the battle taking place just outside the walls of the town. Two Imperial Knights cleaving through tides of greenskins, and then torching them with their massive flamers. "… but every now and then a warband brakes off. Whether they are running away or are trying to flank doesn't matter. Our job is to kill as many as we can." The Holo-table moved back over to them with the guard encampment in the middle. The landscape was jagged and ruined from the recent battle.

"Your first orders Aspirants are to clean out this small group of Orks that have taken this small hill." The map pinged a nearby hill about half a mile from the encampment. "The Orks there have a flack cannon, I'm sure you felt its payload on the way here. Destroying the cannon is your first order and kill as many as the greenskins as you can." The sergeant said as his man walked over to a rack to retrieve a Vox-caster for the Aspirants. "I assume one of you knows how to use this?" Jaune raised his hand reluctantly. "Good, you will be in charge of keeping communications clean between you Aspirants and here, so that means I would advise you to stay in the back of the line for combat." At that Jaune's face light up and he performed a very eager salute.

"You can count on me sir!"

"Emperor's finest my ass." The guardsmen grumbled as he dropped the Vox-caster in Jaune's arms.

"Aspirants, do the Emperor proud and try not to get us all killed." Sargent Hookroot said before he dismissed the Aspirants. The Team leaders saluted and returned to their waiting teams outside.

"So, what's our orders?" Nora said as she bounced over to the leaders hope in eyes at the chance to fight some Orks.

"We are to take out a ork encampment out on a hill about a half mile west." Corvus said as they approached the teams. "Our primary objective is the ork flack cannon."

"Are we going to have any support?" Megan asked.

"They didn't tell us, the sergeant just basically pointed out our mission and told us good luck." Ruby shrugged, she wasn't that worried. Between their aura, Aspirant armor, and superior fighting skills, she knew that they would be able to handle any Orks.

* * *

Taldeer dropped down from the air vent with the grace only a former Elder Farseer could ever hope to obtain. She scanned Ozpin's office for anything that might even hope to suggest that she was being monitored. Seeing nothing present did not mean she let down her guard, this was Ozpin after all. You don't become Primarch of the Alpha Legion without learning to hide things like cameras so well that not even a Farseer could hope to find them.

But she knew that even if she was caught there wouldn't be any real punishment. Ozpin wasn't the kind of man to be that harsh for things like sneaking behind his back… so long as your motives weren't a threat to the Imperium or his students. And Taldeer's weren't. She just wanted those pictures back. They were hers after all.

The Eldar glided over to the small file cabinet behind his desk and after quickly but carefully going over to make sure that it wasn't bobby trapped or bugged, she opened it and began going through the files in hope of finding what she was looking for.

She had to find those pictures. She quietly berated herself for even taking them in the first place but she worried that he would forget about her. She knew in her heart and soul that wasn't true but he did need to be reminded that there are other things in his life beyond the Temple.

She was about to give up on the cabinet when the gods favored her with a small sound of a click that shouldn't have come from anywhere. Taldeer smiled as she swiftly found the false bottom but what she had found was not what she had came to find but a file on one of the Aspirants. Or at least she thought it was Aspirant file. It had their name on it but it was much larger then any first year should have.

* * *

"Keep the suppressive fire on!" Jaune yelled out to his team as they all took shots at the bunkered down Orks. They had yet to get to the flack cannon camp but had run it to a small band of Orks on the way. Right now Jaune, Ren, Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Megan were hunkered down in a trench firing on the Orks. They were trying to keep the greenskins in one spot long enough for Corvus, Leman, Fulgrim, Yang, and Pyrrha to circle around and hit them in close combat.

"Nora, right flank… three of them are charging!" Ruby called out from the scope of Crescent Rose. Nora nodded and switched from her las-rifle to her own personal weapon. Quickly sending out a few rounds of Dust grenades on the charging Orks. The Aspirants didn't wait to see if the assaulting Orks had survived but continued to fire into the both the Orks in cover and the small dust cloud just to make sure. Ruby checked through inferred and saw that one of the Orks had survived and was charging quickly through the las-fire. There wasn't enough time to warn her friends so she quickly sped past them and shifted her weapon into its scythe form. She could already feel the missed shots from the entrenched Orks fly by her but these were Orks, their aim already sucked.

"WAAAGH!" Ruby heard the incoming ork bellow. She raised her scythe just in time to block the incoming slash from the massive ork's sword. Well… that would be generous. It was more like a hunk of metal with a sharpened edge. But it was big and the ork was strong so it made the weapon as deadly as a ork weapon could be. "Puny humy' I'm gonna choppy a up in ta bits!" The ork pressed its strength onto Ruby. She quickly parried the sword and sped around the ork. Her first attack was a slash across the ork's back, her blade cutting through the rough leather and poor armor that the ork had. The ork roared at the attack and quickly turned around with a swing of its sword only for it to hit the dirt ground. The beast angrily looked around for its opponent. It never found it as Ruby brought her scythe's blade down on its head, killing it.

"Ruby! Get back!" Jaune called out once she had finished off the ork. Ruby sped back to the trench her fellow Aspirants were hunkered down in.

"Sorry, I just…"

"Never mind that, just get back to scoping out the enemy." Jaune barked back. Ruby was momentarily in shock that Jaune had suddenly become so commanding. But she quickly recovered and returned to her previous job of keeping an eye on the Orks' movements.

* * *

Angron was watching over the third year class. They were sparing with each other, today was boxing. By this point in Aspirant training all you had to do is instruct them on the type of training and they would do the rest. All he had to do now was to watch them and make notes on their performance. He would later send them a detailed report on their missteps and flaws with some advice on how to fix it if he was feeling generous. But today he was a little distracted. Ruby had been sent out on her first Live Fire mission.

He wasn't worried about her getting hurt. Not at all, she was strong like her mother. She would fly through the greenskins without getting a scratch on her. He was sure of that. Completely sure of that fact. But some part of him, a small and tiny part of him was deeply concerned over the remote possibility that she could get hurt.

He would find that exact Ork that hurt her and rip him to pieces, then he would get one of their mad doctors to fix it back just so he could rip it to pieces again. and he would do this over and over and over and over again. And over again! Then he would beat her CO in to an inch of his life for putting her in danger. Then he would knee Rob in the nuts because funny. Then he would hunt Ozpin down for sending her off on a Live Fire mission in the first place. Then he would burn down all of Vale because he felt like it.

But none of that would happen because Ruby was Summer's daughter and as such was far too strong to ever get hurt by some ork trash.

* * *

Leman was having the time of his life. He smirked as he pulled Gerl out of the head of another Ork. Jaune's plan had worked perfectly. He, Corvus, Fulgrim, Yang, and Pyrrha all surprised the bunkered Orks who were not ready for a close combat fight. That quickly changed as they were Orks after all. They all picked up the nearest and heaviest object they could find and began fighting the Aspirants.

The only problem was the fact there were a lot of Orks. The humans were outnumbered ten to one. But that quickly changed and in Leman's opinion it wasn't that big of a problem. In the first seconds of the fight he killed three Orks, two with gut shots and one with a slice to the head. Then he hit a wall of green meat. Leman had gotten the Nob, the biggest of the ork band. He never saw it but he was sure that Yang was so jealous.

The fight was amazing. The Nob actually knew what he was doing. It would block Leman's hits and actually dogged a few of his shotgun shots. The only one that had hit him was the first and it wasn't to its face. It did leave a nasty hole in the Ork's armor. But in the end Leman had walked away from the fight victorious. He really wanted to take the Ork head as a trophy but it was to large to haul around the battlefield.

But just as he was thinking about placing a beacon for him to track down the head later his Wulfen senses kicked in and screamed at him to take action. He snapped his neck back and saw Yang being cornered by three Orks, Leman at first didn't understand why he felt so worried for her safety, it wasn't like she couldn't handle herself against three Orks. But then his ears picked up the sound of creaking metal, Leman looked up and saw that the wreak of a ork fighter plane was hanging over Yang and the Orks, the sound he heard was the wing of the plane starting to fall apart from its own weight.

Completely without thinking, Leman shifted his swords into one great sword as he charged towards the Orks threatening his unaware friend. His body already changing into his more beastly state, allowing him to cut clean through all three of the Orks in one powerful swing.

"Hey! I could've…"

"Get down!" Leman roared as he dove to push Yang out of the way of the falling wing. The wing crashed down into the ground sending out a cloud of dust through the trench. " 'cough' ya okay?"

"Yeah… 'cough' … can you get off me now." Yang asked politely as he did just save her.

"Aww… do I have to?" He said in his normal Leman way.

"Do you want to be punched in the face?" Yang quipped back.

"Fine… you win." Leman said as he reluctantly pushed himself off Yang.

* * *

"Would you two quit with the glaring." Horus groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"She started it." Qrow grunted out, his glare never lessening.

"And I will finish it." Senguinius retorted. The four other Primarchs present groaned at the two's childish actions. For as long as they could remember the two of them had always disliked each other for some unexplained reason.

"Enough with this…" Ahriman slightly demanded. "Hurry up and find some random reason for the two of you to leave so you can fuck each other in some broom closet."

"We will do no such thing." Senguinius flashed red from Ahriman's words. But despite her protests that was exactly what the rest of them knew was going to happen. It happened every time the two of them met. They would have a glaring contest, argue about some inane thing and then sneak off and to have sex, then they would return and awkwardly avoid any contact with each other.

"Primarch Baal and Primarch Branwen's conduct is not the subject of this meeting." Rogal Dorn said getting to the point as always. "We are here to discuss the recent raise in Word Bearer cults among the citizens."

"Yes, thank you Rogal." Horus sighed. This is why he like having Rogal in meetings. He always made sure that it would be productive and keep the non-essential chitchat down to a minimum." For being Primarchs, they were very good at being distracted by their social lives and especially their peer's relationships. Sometimes it felt like he, Dorn and Yarrick were the only sane ones. "Ozpin, anything from the Alpha Legion?"

"Investigations are currently underway. I have several plants within former Word Bearers contacts, but I have yet to find a way into the former legion itself. When Yarrick reforged the legion he had the unintended side effect of depleting the traitors of everyone in their ranks that might possibly be sympathetic to us. So at the moment we are without a solid line of information."

"Great…" Horus sighed in frustration. "… Ahriman, how goes the investigation into Lorgar's activities in the Archives?"

"We know that he mostly spent time looking into the founding of the Imperium. But then he suddenly switched over to what we know of Grimm. It was at this point that he started moving towards the more… troublesome tomes. Those concerning the Grimm Gods. But it's hard to figure just what he was doing in those, as Primarchs are the only ones with clearance to read them."

"Keep looking into it, I'll see if I have time to assist. Qrow, have you made any progress concerning… her."

"I still don't know why you guys asked me to do this, but I've made… some work on this. I've seen her… for a second." Qrow said before taking a drink from his flask. "Then poof… she was gone."

"Well that is better than we have done in recent times." Ozpin sighed. It had been years since anyone had made contact with Salem.

"Dorn, how are Imperial defenses on the Word Bearers front?"

"Unknown."

"Can you give a bit more detail."

"Yes."

"..."

"Please do so."

"The Word Bearers do not siege cities… they infiltrate them and spread chaos. I do not see the reason for my being here."

"Senguinius, how have the anti-traitor operations proceeded?" Horus said ignoring Dorn's question.

* * *

Yang was running through the trenches. The Aspirant teams had reached the ork encampment. It was a made into a downed Ork Battle Wagon. It was locked up tight and well defended. The sound of the Flack cannon firing rang out all around her. This was what she lived for, the small bar fights and school training fights had nothing on the real grit and sweat of a real life or death battle.

The blood pumped through her veins as she moved between the trenches. Yang turned around one of the corners and found herself running into a pair of screaming Orks. Both charging at her, their weapons raised, the sound of them firing their pistols toward her slightly ringing above the Flack cannon. Yang smiled as she ran faster towards the greenskins. Once she reached them, she ducked under their swings and with one shot to each of their toothy jaws killed them. Yang had quickly found that her punches to their heads were the fastest way to kill the ork. It might be quick but there were a lot of Orks so that didn't matter.

But right now she was looking for her partner. A Ork charge had separated the teams and now they were working together to get back to each other. Flares were not an option as that was just asking for the Orks to come for you. Yang's internal Vox-com was only picking up static on all the channels and that meant that either Jaune's Vox-caster had been damaged or worse… the Orks had a Weird Boy with them. Yang remembered from Instructor Ports lessons that static on all Vox channels was a sign that one of the most unpredictable and potentially powerful beings on Remnant was nearby.

Yang decided to take a risk and popped her head over the trench. She couldn't see anyone else but could see that there were a lot less lights in the ruined Battle Wagon. Most of the Orks must have come after them in that last charge. It was good for later but right now Yang needed to find her partner and her sister… and maybe Weiss too.

Then things went quiet… or things turned quieter. Yang snapped her head to the Battle Wagon and noticed that the Flack Cannon had stopped. Yang frowned under her armor's mask, she had missed a fight. She continued to look around and to her surprise and slight disappointment there were no more Orks. She quickly pulled herself out of the trenches and after taking one last look for any Orks began moving towards the ruined battle wagon.

"Yang! Do you hear me?" Yang stopped at the sound of Jaune over the Vox-com.

"Jaune, I hear you. Did you guys take care of the Flack Cannon yet?"

"Yeah, where here at the battle wagon. Ren, Fulgrim, and Megan are still missing but everyone else are here."

"I'm already…"

"WAAAGH!" Yang turned around just time to block the power klaw that was about to cut her in half. "I'm gonna gut you little humy!" The Ork snarled into her face as it pushed the talons of its power klaw on her arms. Yang buckled under the sheer strength of the massive Ork. Down on one of her knees as the ork savagely chuckled at her apparent weakness. "Take dat little humy…" It said as dropped the pistol in its other hand and grabbed on to her face mask. Yang struggled to fight back as the Ork squeezed harder on her head. She felt so angry, this ork was going to beat her, this single ork was going to beat her because it got behind her and was able to pin her. Yang suddenly felt a surge of anger and power flow through her body. It felt different from her normal Semblance, but she was too distracted with her current situation to notice.

Yang pushed back on the power klaw, knocking the ork stumbling back, taking Yang's mask with it. The Ork glared back at her and roared in rage at taking its early victory from it. It charged forward again, throwing the mask to ground and picking its gun back up. Firing at Yang as it moved back toward her, but her Aura blocked all of them. And once the Ork returned to pointblank range, Yang ducked under the swipe of the Power klaw and landed a single rage enhanced punch to the skull. The sound of the Ork's hard head cracking under the force of Yang's punch could be heard easily. The Ork skidded back a few feet from the punch. It began pulling itself off the ground But Yang was so on top of the beast and continued to beat down on the ork. It was only once the ork's skull had opened from all the damage had Yang stopped.

"Now stay down…" Yang panted as the fight had taken more out of her than she thought it should. All throughout the fight she never noticed that her veins had turned a bright red for the briefest of moments. "Hey Jaune, I'm on my way to you guys."

* * *

Ozpin had just returned from his meeting with his fellow Primarchs. The subject of the meeting had been the Word Bearers and from his perspective it had gone well. But meetings about to the traitor legion did not fix the problem of the traitor legion. His thoughts were still on the Word Bearers even as he opened the door to his office. But to his rare surprise he found someone sitting in his chair.

"Taldeer? What are you doing here?" Ozpin said as he entered his office and approached what should be his desk. Taldeer just continued to look at Ozpin and only answered by pushing forward a file that Ozpin instantly recognized. "What are you doing with that?" Ozpin said with his even rarer accusing tone.

"I was looking for what belongs to me and I stumbled on it." Taldeer leaned back in his chair. Her face unreadable even for him. They both continued to do nothing but stare at each other, both waiting for the other to make the next move. The air in the room was not hostile but certainly tense. "I never pegged you as a hypocrite Ozpin… but… after reading this. You have some gall to lecture Angron when you are no better than him."

* * *

"Its still kickin'!" Gritrot announced to its fellow Gretchen as it kicked the down ork.

"But look at dat hole in its 'ead!"

"Its all squishy 'nd outside."

"Shut up you gits! Da Doc wants any that are still kickin' and dis one still kickin'!" Gritrot barked at the other Gretchen. They all grumbled but did as they were told… at least until they all had a chance to back stabbed Gritrot for being a bossy git. They all swarmed the hulking ork and began dragging it to a certain Mad Doc.

* * *

Codex-Astartes for the Common Man

By Roboute Guilliman

Based off the Codex-Astartes by Roboute Guilliman

Chapter Forty Three, Imperial Knights

Imperial Knights are both far from the armored men who rode in on houseback in to battles for the honor of their kingdom and yet they do share many similarities. Modern day Imperial Knights now ride massive battle mechs into glorious combat. Standing three stories tall, the Imperial Knight combat walker is one of the most fearsome war assets the Imperium has at its disposal.

However, the main issue with the Knights is that they are not within the normal chain of command. Imperial Knights belong to Knight Houses. All of whom are allied with the Imperium but do not take direct orders from the High Lords. Instead they follow the rules of the Honor-Bound. A agreement between the founders of the Knight Houses and the Emperor himself. Ever Knight House is honor bound to fight in any full scale war the Imperium wages. The Knights Houses are honor bound to come to the defense of the Imperium. The Knights Houses are to only receive tithes from towns and settlements that are under their protection during peace time.

The Knight Houses respect the Honor-Bound and many base there lives around the many tenants that have been added to it. These rules deal more with the day to day behavior than anything else. Only the rules stated by the Emperor are to be followed in absolute. However, the culture surrounding the Knight Houses is very much in the opinion that unless you follow every rule of the Honor-Bound then you are nothing but a dishonorable plebeian.

* * *

 _ **Author's notes**_

 **So a bit more action. I am going to say I know I'm not that good at it. I have a hard time at dragging out fight scenes. I better at plot outside of action. And I'm best at characters. But this is Warhammer and RWBY is action is needed.**

 **Second, the Blake pairing polls is still going on. You can find it at the top of my profile page. Please vote.**

 **Reviews**

 **Ollanius Pious – PM**

 **Nemris – Thank you, and the night lords will be for much later. Sorry but right now is school years and then legions**

 **Mr. Green37 – PM**

 **Pacer287 – thank you for reading and reviewing.**

 **Darkerpaths – Well you got a bit of action, there will be more next chapter but Action is not my forte.**

 **Smurphy1999 – thank you**


	11. Chapter 11

Bad guys chapter.

* * *

Roman was not having the best of days. First off, he had to deal with Ratlings stealing his cigars, the only good thing the little bastards were worth for was cooking and none of them even gave him a bit of the food they made. Second, the Ogryns that had been bought off the Dark Eldar last month got caught because they were too stupid not to go outside because they saw something shiny, and eventually were found by some Arbites. Thankfully they were also too stupid to tell on their operation. And the Faunus… all they did was glare at him and grumble about having to work with baselines. But at least they worked for their spot in this whole thing.

In short, Roman was getting sick and tired of these White Fang beasts. He would much rather hire Orks or some local Underhive gang to do all the heavy lifting but nooo… his current employer wanted Abhumans for some reason.

"Getting a little irritated, are we?" And that was another pain in the fucking ass Roman had to deal with.

"No, I am not Ekodas. Please go back to whatever alter you came from." Roman snapped. He knew that it was not a wise move to snap at a Astartes even a fallen one, maybe more so a fallen one, but Roman knew Ekodas' orders. Keep Roman alive… for as long as Roman is useful. And At the moment he was still useful. So thus Roman could say whatever he wanted and Ekodas would not touch a hair on Roman's head.

"Thank you, I think I shall." Ekodas smiled and began walking back to his chambers, that looked more like some twisted Imperial Creed temple. Roman knew that on the inside Ekodas was raging that he couldn't strangle Roman there and now, it was creepy how the man could keep his true feelings hidden. And even more so to show the opposite emotion.

" _Word Bearers, all of them are fucking nuts. But they pay well enough so I'm not complaining._ " Roman was just old enough to remember what the Word Bearers were like before they showed their true colors under the leadership of the now Traitor Primarch Lorgar. They were often seen as the pious man's best friend, the people you come to when your neighbor has converted to the Eldar pantheon and you took issue with that. Officially they were the legion made to watch over the people for signs of corruption of the spirit, ironic with hindsight but it was true. But at the same time they weren't suppose to hold any bias toward any one religion other than those officially deemed dangerous.

"Neo!" Roman called but his little helper did not show up and he knew what that meant. "Fuck… Neo… we've… uh, talked about this…" Roman mumbled as he went to find his helper. Neo had always been one of those double edged sword type of person. On one hand she was incredibly useful in battle and in schemes but… she had her tendencies. Roman moved through the complex he had found for himself and passed by sevreal White Fangs, two of which told him about the screaming confirming his worries. He soon came to a large metal door, he could hear a voice directing someone inside. "Shit, was hoping she was doing it on her homework rather then a lesson." Roman prepared himself for what was coming and opened the door. The smell of gore and blood thick as the air came out.

"Who disturbs such grand art?" The Haemonculus known as Bellathonis sneered as the holographic projection of his body turned to the opening door. "You are disturbing my student in her art, go now and flee." Roman tried his hardest not to throw up at what was going on here. He focused on Neo as he did so when in this position. The short girl with mismatching pink and brown eyes continued to look bored as she always did during these lessons her master Bellathonis made her do.

It was rare for a Dark Eldar Haemonculus to take a human as an apprentice but for some strange reason Bellathonis had taken to the girl. And while a Haemonculus could scare the shit out of anyone just by being in the room, Roman always found Neo's expression of complete boredom during these lessons even more terrifying. One might think the idea of a person enjoying cutting open a live human and playing with their bodies in ways no sane person should ever do scary, but the sheer look of disinterest Neo had was somehow worse for Roman. He had seen her happy… or at the very least smiling, when she fought a worthy opponent, when she had one of her beloved sundaes, and every now and then when a flock of birds flew by. So he knew she could be happy. And he knew she could be disgusted, seeing Ratlings eat for one. But this act she was doing made her bored, the act of tormenting and causing suffering was boring to her.

"I need Neo for the next stage of the plan and it is time sensitive." No witty remarks, no sarcasm, none of that. Roman needed to be on point.

"Very well, the canvas had died three minutes ago anyways. We were just delaying the fact this was over. Neophyte…" Even Roman had to admit that pet name he had for her was a bit demeaning. "… I task you with finding another canvas before next we meet, and make sure its more sturdy than this one." Neo nodded her head and then bowed to her master. The hologram flickered out of view and Neo threw her head back as to say _Finally_. She grinned a tiny bit and hopped down from her stool and threw off her bloody smock.

"You can find your prisoner after we complete this stage of the mission." Roman said sternly even though he knew this girl could likely kill him in ways that he wouldn't even have in his worst nightmares. She just shrugged and looked down the hall in manner that said _Lead the way_. And once again Roman found her casual attitude to the gore behind her disconcerting.

* * *

Cinder walked behind her father, not saying a word, not making any motions that might set him off. She had gotten this special pass for the weekend because her uncle had died and Headmaster Ozpin had been gracious enough to allow her to return to Macragge for the funeral. She had noted the way he had looked at her when she had told this lie, like he knew and felt sorry for her. It was as if he knew that she was simply expected to come home at the request of her father and if she didn't she would be in a world of pain very quickly.

So Cinder was able to make it at her father's request. She had traveled by plane and arrived at Macragge where she was found by a throng of servants and not her family. The cold homecoming was expected, she had illusions as to whether or not her father might show a little kindness in the form of showing up when she arrived. She was used to it by now.

It was a little sad to leave her team for the weekend even if it was just for two days. She had come to enjoy her time with them, her partner Mercury was a little on the teasing and flirty side but it was good natured rather than the malicious goals of the suiters she was used to back home. Emerald was still a delight to be around, she was so open and free with Cinder and it made her feel like there was good people in this world. Her partner Karma, he was even to this day mystery. It always felt like he would prefer to be somewhere else, that the team was just some fling and he wanted to go back to what wanted. She could understand that for some people, other people had lead different lives and maybe they preferred their old ones but for reason their own joined the Astartes.

"Cinder, keep up and don't put on such a thoughtful face, you are a tool and tools don't think." Her father ordered in his augmented deep tone. Small hints of the damage done to his lungs bleeding through his words. Cinder quickly fell in line with her father's orders. They soon came upon the door they had been walking towards, it was engraved with ruins that Cinder knew for a fact were Grimm in nature. The doors opened and the two quickly walked in. only five other people were standing in the engraved circle in to the floor.

She knew them all. The first next to her father was Primarch of the Dark Angels Sur Luther. She had seen him many times and they shared a tiny nod during her entrance ceremony at Beacon. Behind him was one of his Dark Angel comrades, she didn't know who he was but she had once heard him being referred to as Cypher.

Next to the Primarch was the Traitor Primarch Lorgar Aurellan of the Word Bearers Legion. She had seen him the least but she had seen plenty of the two men behind him though. Kor Phaeron and Erebus. The latter of whom had made sevreal moves to try and convince her father to, in his words _examine her belief in the cause_. To her fear, she had seen her father take longer and longer to shoot down his offers.

"Ezekyle, good of you to show up on time. Unlike our final member of our little court." Lorgar smiled and then frowned as they all looked to the last door that had yet to be opened. "But we can begin with him. Tiresome as it may be to contact him we can proceed now that you are here."

"Daughter, please give your report on the Champions." Her father didn't even look back as he ordered her around.

"The Grimm God Tzeentch was successful in marking the champions. I was able to detect the presence of the Grimm God Slaanesh in Fulgrim Rasputin. The Grimm God Nurgle in Pyrrha Nikos. The Grimm God Tzeentch in Weiss Schnee. And lastly the Grimm God Khorne in Yang Xiao Long." She finished, all throughout her voice was the same monotone that she was required to have by her father's peers.

"The Champion of Khorne is not the Rose girl? Interesting… what could the Gods be thinking?" Primarch Luther said as he rubbed his chin in thought.

"That should not be correct, the Rose line is claimed by Khorne in its entirety. Just as her mother fell to Khorne so should she." Kor Phaeron growled. "Abaddon, your foolish daughter got it wrong." Cinder mentally prepared herself for the smack to the head she was about to receive. But was shocked when it was Kor Phaeron that had been stuck.

"Silence, you presume to know the will of the gods!" Lorgar raged. "The fault does not lie with Abaddon's daughter, it lies with you not seeing the sight of the Gods. Clearly with the Rose girl in Beacon and under the watch of the Alpha Legion, the Gods knew she above all else would be watched for the fury of the Blood God." Lorgar finished his lecturing and scolding and then returned to the circle. "The news of a Schnee receiving the Mark of Tzeentch could be used greatly. We must find out why she was chosen and exploit whatever feeling drew the God toward her."

"And Pyrrha Nikos, a most interesting choice for the Plague Father. I have seen her in the arenas of Mistral, she will be a forceful Champion of Nurgle. But I'm not sure exactly how she could fall from the absent god's light. And finally your little brother Lorgar, did any of us expect anything else." Luther chuckled, while Abaddon followed. Lorgar maintained his face of passive blankness to the subject.

"I believe we are finished with this report, if we have no other business at this time then we should return before any notice our disappearance. Luther, make sure you keep the Sons Legion from delving to deep into my history and Abaddon… keep up the good work at Beacon." Cinder could swear that that comment was more directed at her rather than her father. But she must have just imagined it. "Luther, it will be your task to inform him of what we have learned and make sure he knows the meaning of punctuality." Lorgar said before moving towards his own door out with his two fellow Word Bearers following right behind.

"Ezekyle…" Luther said as he approached Cinder and her father. "… I should warn you that there are mumblings of a witch hunt, your name was one of the many but not the most said. Please be careful even more so than normal."

"Thank you for the warning, but while I wish I could step back further into the shadows… and let my daughter do her work…" She shrunk under his words and ever so slight gaze. "… but the stage of my task is problematic at best and disastrous at worst without my involvement."

"Very well…" Luther sighed. "… I will have to cover you all of you. I hope to see you again during the next stage of our grand plan…" Luther then turned to Cinder. "And keep up the good work little one, we are counting on your information on the Champions." Luther said with a smile that made Cinder with like a small bug being favored by a larger creature. Luther turned around and began towards his own door, Cinder catching a small smirk on the face of the man behind him. Leaving her alone with her father. HE said nothing to her as they returned through the door they came in. She dared to hope that her father might be pleased but knew at best he would not be displeased.

* * *

"Gets in you grots!" Mad Dok Grotsnik called out as cheerfully cackled with glee at the newest Nob to have been brought to his tent by his little Gretchen helpers. "Ohhhh this is a good 'en… its sill' gots some fight left…" Grotsnik quickly grabbed his tools and began planning out all the wonderful things he was going to try before this one expired, but hopefully it didn't and he could see the results of his work in action

"Uh, Dok… I fink it's not kickin' anymore…" Grotsnik turned around and saw a dead ork on his table.

"Operate! Operate! Still time to operate!" Grotsnik roared as he rambled to save his newest toy. The Gretchen helpers quickly scrambled to get all the various bits and bobs that the Mad Dok would need to operate, more than half of them would be sharp objects. Grotsnik tried the old Pain Boy test and hit the ork on his tbale in the head a few times to check to see if it was faking it. Grotsnik stared hard at the ork waiting for a reaction. "Nothin… Operate Now!" Grotsnik grabbed a nearby saw and began cutting into the ork and then a few sparking cables he kept power for this very situation. The Mad Dok jammed the cables into the open chest and ordered his Gretchen to ramp up the power. The lifeless ork's body went into a spasm of electric fueled movements and with Grotsnik watching with a fairly blank waiting expression on his face. Once the movements had stopped he heard a small grumble form the ork. Knowing just what to do Grotsnik smacked the freshly alive ork over the head.

"Uh boss… aren't we'ze suppose to fix 'em? Not uh… bash 'em in da 'ead?" One of the Gretchen asked, it was promptly picked up and its neck snapped and then thrown in the pile of dead things marked For Later in orkish hand writing.

"Get's me da crate of good stuff, I'ze wants to see what I'ze can do with this one…" the Mad Dok said with a slight trance like voice, like something had been guiding him. The Gretchens brought over the box of bit and pieces that Grotsnik had collected from the best dead. The Dok began his gruesome work on the ork, cutting into the body and fixing up all the damage in the normal ork pain boy way, tape and staples. And even a bit of welding here and there. With grand finally being slapping a Adamantium plate onto the open head wound. "Dere… it's all finished." Grotsnik said as he looked over his latest work.

* * *

The sound of his metallic feet walking among the rows upon rows of Necron warriors was the only sound in the entirety of the tomb complex. Each step echoing and growing with each second until they came back to him. He could travel the complex in instant teleports, or float above his subject without effort but the sound of anything soothed his damaged mind. For he had been alone for so long, watching over his people in true silence.

The Silent King looked over his legions of followers. They all stood completely motionless, only the small scarabs used to maintain their bodies were the only signs of movement in the whole of the tomb complex. The Silent King was the only active member of his kind. All others currently in their stasis slumber.

"To think, this world, once ours, would become host to scum such as this." In the middle of the legions of warriors was the slowly disappearing corpse of a Grimm. Not that the Silent King knew what it was called. All he knew was that it was a unnatural as himself, but on the other side of the balance. It was Chaos, he Order. The bird like abomination had fallen from the celling of the tomb complex. While he hated the sight of a being of Chaos in his domain, it was a good wake up call.

Not only had it alerted him to the uncovered hole in the surface ruins, but it also gave him a idea of the state of the surface world. He now knew there was Chaos back in his world. There were beings strong enough to fight it. And there was suffering and war. The Silent King needed to think on this, he needed to understand the meaning behind what was happening. Did this mean it was time for the Necrons to awaken. Did this mean their time under the surface was over. So many questions circled these beings of Chaos and those that fought them. He needed time. And that was something that he had in abundance.

* * *

Ghazghkull Thraka walked out of the Mad Dok tent holding his massive green hand to his head. Now a cool metal plate of solid Adamantium covered the top of it. Not that his ork hand could feel the difference in warm or cold with its limited sense of touch. His head was swimming in strange thoughts and visions. Ghazghkull was barely able to walk correctly through the paths of the ork outpost of Rustspike.

Sevreal nearby boyz saw this and got up for the prospect of a fight. Ghazghkull took them down each with a single headbutt. Smashing their heads open with his own skull. The small scrap had been enough to bringhim out of his haze but he knew what the visions were now. IT was the Ork gods Gork and Mork speaking to him. And what they spoke of made Ghazghkull excited, they told him of fights so large that they would become endless. That he would go on to lead the Orks into never ending war.

As a ork, Ghazghkull was unsued to thinking of anything of the future. As a rule Orks only ever through of the here and now. It was simply how they thought. But now, this ork with a metal plate over his head had plans. Plans for the future, and they all ended with him chopping off the head of the human that had beaten him.

"Ey! You'ze know where da boss is?" Ghazghkull called out to another group of Orks who had just finished watching the short fight between Ghazghkull and the previous group of Orks.

"Whatz you want ith da boss?" One of them asked in the normal ork butchering of language. Ghazghkull responded by punching the ork in the jaw, sending him down to the ground.

"I'ze said, where da boss?" Ghazghkull growled to the rest of the boyz. This time Ghazghkull show remarkable restraint and did not kill all of the offending Orks. He had left one alive to answer his question, and then kill him. Nothing spread faster than gossip between Gretchens in a ork camp. Soon word spread of a Goff ork wandering in the camp looking for the boss.

Said boss quickly heard from his favorite pet/emergency snack Picksir, about the Goff. Dregmek wasn't about to let some brutish Goff stay very long in his camp. He and his tribe were proud Deathskulls and they had a bunch more brains in their heads then some stupid Goff. So Dregmek decided the best option was to take his Nobz and go out and kill this brute for fun.

Dregmek soon found the Goff Ork making trouble at piles of weapons and junk that served as mockery of a market for the Orks. This was good, if he killed this Goff here it might remind the Meks and grots here who's in charge they would get back to work on the Deff Dread he ordered them to build.

"Oy! You dere!" Dregmek bellowed as he and his Nobz came upon the Goff with the shiny head. Dregmek liked it, maybe he would add the head to his boss pole. "You'ze gotz some deff wish to be'ze here?!"

"You da boss?" The Goff asked and it insulted Dregmek, of course he was da boss. He was the biggest and had the biggest and shootest guns. Dregmek grinned savagely at the insult.

"Only da boss would havez a shoota like dis." Dregmek said showing off his massive Kombi-weapon. Exactly as Dregmek expected, the Goff began moving toward him threateningly. Dregmek nodded to his Nobz not to interfere and smiled as he began unloading his shoota into the offending Goff. The ork market was filled with the overtly loud names of the weapon and the flashes of many gun muzzles in a maelstrom of light. And soon it all ended, all that was left was the sound of the clanging of shells hitting the ground and empty ammo hoppers rotating. The entirety of the of the Orks watching the events had their jaws dropped at the sight before them. In that torrent of bullets, the Goff had not a single scratch on him. After the sound of Dregmek's cigar hitting the ground, all the sound that came was the savage beating he received from Ghazghkull. So brutal, so intense, so ork like was the beating Ghazghkull gave Dregmek, the watching ork Nobz actually began cheering for the upstart. The affair was finished with a headbutt by Ghazghkull's new adamantium skull, all that was left of the former warboss was a green paste on the ground.

"Da're… now I'm da boss." Ghazghkull growled darkly as the visions of the future became clearer and clearer.

* * *

Neo was finishing up her latest assignment from Roman. Blowing up a freighter of Dust arriving in the port of Vale from the Schnee Dust Company. She had already finished her task of setting the explosives and killing the crew. The ship at this point was being run all by it self but a combination of servitors and her own creations. She wasn't at all sad about the loss of her _works of_ _art_ as her master would call them. They were tools to here and nothing more.

" _Just tools and nothing more. Not even very good tools at that, people work so much better than the things Master makes me make. They can't even get me the right flavor I order them to._ " Neo mentally complained. Neo ability to speak had been taken away in the first few weeks of her being under Master Bellathonis, his reason… because he believes that flaws make a piece of art even more beautiful. So he had taken her voice to give a flaw in an otherwise perfect form. She didn't mind… anymore. She had learned to live with it. She didn't need a voice for her purpose in life. To one day find the boy that had saved her, her one true love.

"Neo! Neo! Neo!" Neo frowned as Roman's voice rang from her Scroll. She pulled out her device and began reading the various texts her _boss_ had been sending. Neo scoffed at the fool, he was some moron that was only useful for now. Those that he worked for had made a deal with her Master and so far it had sucked for her. She had to listen to his orders and comply with a smile. It was better than being with Master Bellathonis, at least Roman got the idea that she hated her work as a Haemonculus in training.

Sure opening up a person was fun the first three times. But exploring a person's body could only be fun for so long. After awhile she figured out where everything was, what everything did, how it all worked together. And then it was boring. Utterly boring. Mutants could be fun as their biology was always a surprise waiting to happen but even that lessened over the years. Tinkering with flesh and making monsters was… even more boring. One might think otherwise but not for Neo. Master Bellathonis had taken note of Neo apathy to the craft and had found it amusing, he had found it amusing that someone so inherently skilled would find their craft so dull. But the truth of the matter Neo hadn't found what made her happy in life. She knew exactly what that was, or rather who, but she didn't have it yet.

" _But I will! One day my love we will together and nothing will keep us apart. I'll make sure of that._ " Neo darkly thought as she began remembering the day she had met her one true love. She and sevreal others had been taken off the streets of Vale by some criminals looking to get paid by Dark Eldar slavers. These particular Slavers were interested in baseline humans with unique features. Her pink and brown eyes counted as such and so she was taken off the streets of the lower hive. She and others were being held in a cage waiting for their fate, when he came.

He couldn't have been two years older than her, but he had this air around him that she knew to be special. He saw them, Neo thought it was only her, and went against his employers. She had no clue on how he did it, but he eventually killed everyone in the building and then set everyone free before fleeing. Neo had never before felt the way she had when she had been saved, she knew it had to be love. And even though she had later been captured by the Dark Eldar that had come personally, she knew that the was still out there. And she had survived all this time growing her love for him, it had been what kept her through the horribly painful life that she had at the hands of her master.

But now she was back in her home city of Vale and she would find him. She would find him and they would be together and be happy. They would kill all those fools that dared to threaten their love and she would make her master and his kind suffer with their own craft.

* * *

Author's notes.

So, I know I've been gone. Sorry about that. But I will never let this die. People seemed to really like the hinting of the Word Bearers in the last chapter so I took that and made a whole chapter for the bad guys.

Second, Neo… yes…. She is nuts… yes…. She is crazy in love with one of the main characters…... yes…... she is also a Haemonculus in training, it gives a reason why she's crazy. As no human can take being subjected to that kind of life without snapping in some way. I can perfectly see exposer to the Dark Eldar turning someone into a Yandere… look it up. It's the fucking Dark Eldar, batshit crazy suffering is their thing.

Anyways, I just wanted to give you all this little reminder that I'm not dead and once I finish my binge on Viral Saints I'm heading over to here.

Reviews

Pacer287 – thank you and sorry for the long wait.

Mr. Green37 – PM, sorry for the long wait.

Ollanius Pious – PM, please tell me if your still interested in Beta'ing this. And sorry for the long wait.

J (Guest) – Sorry for the long wait, and currently the only pairings that are completely confirmed is Ruby and Corvus, Jaune and Pyrrha, and some combo of Blake, Leman, and Yang. Other than that up in the air. And no Megan will not be with the R/C pair.

Darkerpaths – sorry for the long wait. They are currently still in their first years of becoming Astartes, not that much difference in power level other than training. The Gene-Seed is still only at three implants. And here's some bad guys for ya.

Nemris – Sorry for the long wait. And thank you but I still feel there should be some, it is RWBY and 40k, action is a big part of both. But yes I'm much better at plot and characters. Thank you.


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